


Through the Lows and the Highs

by an0mally



Category: The Willoughbys, The Willoughbys (2020)
Genre: Asthma attack, Barnaby A has asthma like he does in the book, Bullying, But this is The Willoughbys so that’s a given, Canon Compliant, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Crushes, Dissociation, Don’t worry I’m sure they get them eventually, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Gifts, Healing, Holiday fair, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, M/M, Making Friends, Multi, Orphan Services failed Linda SO bad, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Post canon, Rough upbringings, School, School Play, Sibling Fluff, Slice of Life, Sort Of, Star-crossed romance, The Willoughbys all have supportive friends, The foster families become friends!, Tim gets to be a regular tween and have all the awkwardness that comes with it, Trauma and recovery, adoption process, chosen family, drama club, everyone gets gifts!!, mentions of abuse, overcoming all of those things, stage fright, the kids being fish out of water in the modern world, the mustache thing at the end was a weird dream
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 35,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24120691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/an0mally/pseuds/an0mally
Summary: In which the Willoughby kids adjust to a new home, a new family, and a new world. Not without some challenges but always with each other. (A series of one shots taking place after the movie. Updates sporadically as I write them.)
Relationships: Commander Melanoff and the Willoughby Siblings, Jane Willoughby and Original Characters, Linda | Nanny/Commander Melanoff (The Willoughbys), Nanny and the Willoughby Siblings, The Barnabys and Original Characters, The Willoughby Siblings, Tim Willoughby and The Waddingtons, Tim Willoughby/Original Male Character
Comments: 117
Kudos: 225





	1. Sick

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first attempt at fanfic in almost a decade! Sorry if my prose writing sucks! I loved the Willoughbys movie, noticed a criminal lack of content, and just so happened to have ideas kicking around my head. Sometimes you gotta be the change you wish to see in the world...
> 
> Enjoy!

“I know it’s not much, but it’s home!” Linda led the four Willoughby children-Her children??? She still couldn’t believe it- into her apartment. “You kids get settled and I’ll get dinner started.”

On the journey home from Sveetzerlund, arrangements were discussed with Melanoff, who agreed to set up some bedrooms in his much bigger home connected to the factory. One of the many technicalities the new family had to face after just recently deciding to become one. The gravity of the situation was now just setting in for Linda, now not just a nanny, but a mom.

She thought about her previous lack of nannying experience and then about her new role. Mom. The initial thought that first filled her with euphoria now carried a certain weight, and very high expectations given the specific children she was dealing with. She loved them all to death, but lately she had time to reflect on just how hard of an adjustment this might be, for all of them. Among the comparatively simpler obstacles like custody and living situations was the sheer baggage they’d all have to unpack, mostly relating to the Willoughbys being isolated most of their lives in an old fashioned house with awful, awful “parents”.

She quickly perished the thought of those monsters. All Linda wanted to think about now was making sure these kids felt as safe and comfortable as possible. She dragged a folded cot out of a nearby closet and into the guest bedroom, which also held a twin bed. The Barnabys were fine with sharing the cot while Jane took the guest twin bed and Tim took the living room couch. After she got that set up Linda noticed all four kids back in the living room, Tim and Jane on the sofa and the Barnabys on the floor against it. Their bags unmoved, all of them looking exhausted. That was understandable, given the long journey and the frankly traumatic experience before it, but they also looked pale. Sickly pale.

“Nanny?” Jane spoke up first, sounding quite hoarse. “My head hurts. REALLY bad...”

“I feel cold.” “I feel hot.” Said Barnabys A and B respectively. “Can you feel cold and hot at once?” 

“I can’t believe it.” Tim said. “We finally get a normal family and now we’re- we’re-“ His statement was interrupted by a violent sneeze. “-DYING! Nanny, are we dying?!”

Well, after what they’d all just been through, Linda felt quite stupid for not seeing this coming. She placed her hand against each of their foreheads, which were, sure enough, hot to the touch. If there was ever a moment to prove herself as a mother, it was now.

——

After settling each kid in their respective beds (And explaining to Tim that they were not, in fact, dying) Linda began a massive emergency grocery order. Soup fixings and medicine and jumbo bags of cough drops among other things were added to her cart. Rush shipping, credit card be damned. These kids were getting the works. The absolute sick kid works.

According to Tim, none of the Willoughby kids had been sick before. At least, not in the godawful feverish way like now. In fact, the worst any of them had ever felt was when Jane ate that bus gum. (Linda made a face at that particular memory...) It made some sense considering the children had rarely ventured outside their relatively clean home, and the farthest they’d ever gone was the front yard. Still, the thought that none of them had even been to a doctor before had her anxiety spiking like mad. Were they even vaccinated? Did orphan services attempt it or give them checkups? It made her shiver just thinking about it. And that funny story about Jane harboring a racoon seemed much less funny now... 

Linda brought her mind back to the task at hand. These were all questions and concerns for another day. Her focus now was on getting them well.

After ordering the groceries she dug around the same closet the cot was kept in until she found a plastic storage bin. She knew these would come in handy someday. Inside were boredom busters of every kind, children’s toys and games and art supplies she’d accumulated for the kids she babysat. (Or had been prepared to, anyway. A nanny should always be prepared, even an under-qualified one!) If those weren’t enough she’d break out her stash of cartoon DVDs from just about every decade. Would the Willoughbys like cartoons? She hoped so. She’d start them with that old stuff from the 40s and 50s since it’s less flashy but a part of her hoped they’d eventually dip into the 90s...

The groceries arrived about an hour later and a half hour after that Linda was preparing some vegetable soup. All of the kids had been asleep for quite awhile and she’d hate to have to wake them, but they’d have to wake up for food and medicine eventually. Fortunately, she was relieved to have one less Willoughby to stir awake as she heard the kitchen floor creak behind her.

“Nanny?” Even through the scratchy voice she identified it clearly as Tim.

“Mornin’ Skinnybones!” Said Linda. She noticed Tim flinch and was quick to quiet her voice a bit when she spoke again. “You’re right on time, soup’s almost done. You feelin’ hungry at all?”

“Actually,” Tim spoke again, sounding...strangely hesitant. “Could I...have a glass of water, please? If it’s not too much trouble, that is...” He fidgeted with the sleeves of his pajamas nervously.

There it is. Those little reminders of what they’d been through. Tim and the others had been met with nothing but scorn whenever they’d asked for anything. It broke Linda’s heart. She put her spoon to the side and set the soup to a low simmer, then took a glass out of the cabinet.

“Tim,” Said Linda, filling the glass with ice from the dispenser on the fridge. “It’s never too much trouble. In fact,” She then filled the glass with tap water and handed it to the oldest Willoughby. “It’s never any trouble. Got it?”

Tim took a long sip of the cold water, and smiled. “Thank you. For everything.”

“Anytime.” Linda smiled back, then turned back to the soup while Tim took a seat at the nearby kitchen table.

“I had the weirdest fever dream!”

“Oh?” Said Linda. “Do tell!”

“We were all back at Melanoff’s and EVERYONE had mustaches except for me! Jane had one, you had the Phil disguise on, and the Barnabys...don’t get me started.”

Linda laughed as Tim continued recounting the dream, and assured herself she was gonna be alright at the whole mom thing.


	2. Like Brother and Sister

“Jaaaane! C’mon, you’ve been in there forever!” Tim whined, leaning against the bathroom door and knocking his head against it for emphasis. They’d all been living at Nanny’s place for about a week and a half now, and were just about recovered from the illness they’d contracted the week prior. Nanny herself was out running some errands, leaving Tim with no one to complain to about his current predicament.

Jane finally emerged after what had been about an hour, clad in lounge wear and a towel wrapped around her head. “All yours!” Before both words even escaped her mouth Tim was already rushing inside, and shut the door a bit too hard behind him.

“What are you even DOING in here??? No normal person spends that much time in the bathroom.”

Jane rolled her eyes as she made her way back to the living room. As if they ALL hadn’t been indulging in 45 minute showers ever since they got here. Tim should just be glad they no longer had to wait until the dead of night when they knew mother and father were asleep...

Jane sat back on the couch and clicked the TV on. The Barnabys were on the floor in front of her building some contraption out of legos. She flipped through the channels until she came across the one she wanted. Yes! Her new favorite show was just about to start.

“Whatcha watching, Jane?” Asked Barnaby B.

“Star School! It’s about these kids who go to a performance school where they’re all trying to make it as singers!” Jane smiled and sighed dreamily. “I wanna go to a school like that someday...”

Five minutes into the show, Tim wandered into the living room. He took one look at the TV and scoffed.

“Ugh...this again, Jane?!” He said, grabbing the remote and flicking through channels until he landed on the news.

“Tim! I was watching that!” Jane tried grabbing the remote back and soon enough they were playing tug-of-war with it.

“You were rotting your brain out. We need to be spending this time catching up on everything we’ve missed! Enriching ourselves!”

“I WAS catching up, with arts and culture!”

“You call that ‘culture’?!”

“Barnabys! Help me out here!”

“No, Barnabys. Help ME out!”

The twins looked up at their older siblings and then at each other. In silent agreement they tiptoed out of the living room while Tim and Jane continued fighting over the remote.

“You’re so boring!”

“And you’re a pain!”

“No YOU’RE a pain!”

“No YOU- AGH!” Tim stepped on a stray lego, causing him to quickly let go of the remote. Jane followed suit, slipping on a tiny wheel and tumbling to the floor. The remote fell, battery pack crashing open and the batteries rolling underneath a bookshelf from which there was no return.

The two sat on the floor surrounded by lego pieces, backs turned to each other and pouting. 

“Now look what you did!” Tim exclaimed.

“What I did?! Everything was just fine till you showed up.” Said Jane. 

Why did her brother have to be so annoying?

Suddenly, Jane had a thought. A thought that, to Tim’s confusion, made her burst out...laughing?

“What’s so funny?” He asked. Jane’s laughter grew concerningly loud and, was she crying? On top of that, Tim soon found himself wrapped in her embrace.

“It’s just...” Jane started, letting go for a moment to wipe a tear from her cheek. “I’m arguing with you now...like you’re my brother!”

“Jane, I AM your brother.”

“Well yeah, but..” She took off her foggy glasses to clean them on her shirt. “But for the longest time, you never really had a chance to be.”

Tim realized now what Jane meant, and looked back at the sister he practically raised. He’d been forced to grow up, but Jane didn’t have to. None of them had to. Not right now.

“I’m sorry.” He said. “I guess...I could stand to be a little less boring.”

“I’m sorry too. I could probably be a little less of a pain.”

“We both know that won’t happen.” Tim teased, and they both shared a laugh. “Do you wanna try and get the batteries back? You can put your show back on.”

“Nah. I’ll watch the rerun tomorrow. Maybe I’ll just read a book or something.”

The two siblings spent the rest of the morning relaxing, Jane with a book in her lap and Tim doing some drawing, just enjoying each other’s company in silence. That is, until they heard a voice from down the hall...

“Barnaby, did you borrow my screwdriver?”

“Didn’t touch it, Barnaby.”

“Well, I left it here and now it’s not here!”

“I said I didn’t take it!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“TIM!”

“JANE!”

Jane and Tim exchanged looks, and laughed, grateful for the many years of annoying one another they had ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this one came to me faster than expected! Sometimes writing just flows like that and other times it’s the opposite. More to come! Whenever that might be...


	3. Sweaters

_Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait- WALK_ The Barnaby twins found themselves once again mesmerized by the cross walk button.

“Barnabys! Come on now.”

“Yes mommy.” “Sorry mommy.”

Linda smiled to herself. The twins had quickly taken to calling her that whereas Tim and Jane still preferred to call her Nanny over any derivative of “mom”. (Not that she minded) She had been making an effort to take each child for a day out individually as a way to get to know them better, and today was the Barnabys’ turn. Okay, maybe not each child individually, but these two were so inseparable she was almost afraid to try. 

Besides, today Linda had a little surprise for both of them.

She quickly found out that Barnaby A and B weren’t much for talking. That is, unless she brought up their shared interest in machines and inventing. As much as she loved seeing their little eyes light up talking about the pulley system they planned to install in their bunk bed once they all moved to Melanoff’s, Linda often wondered what the two DIDN’T share, besides the two letters she’d given them which they rarely used to refer to each other. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t at least a little concerned for them and their development...

“Where are we going again?” asked Barnaby A.

“You’ll see!”

—

“Okay, here we are!”

The twins looked up at their destination to see a store with a name neither of them could pronounce. From the window displays it was clear they sold clothing. They looked up at Linda, perplexed.

“Just wait and see.” She told them.

Once in the store she lead the twins to the children’s section, where the display she’d hoped would still be there was. And to her delight and the twin’s awe, it was. 

“Are these ALL sweaters?!” “I think they’re all sweaters!” “Definitely sweaters.” 

Indeed, it was a whole display dedicated to sweaters of just about every color in the rainbow. “Jane and I came across these while shopping and thought of you! Pick whichever one you want.” Said Linda.

The Barnabys could only stare up at the shelves of colorful yarn, clearly a bit overwhelmed. They said nothing for about a minute or two and Linda briefly wondered if it was too much too soon for them, until...

“Can I see the green one?”

Linda’s worries were quickly dismissed by the sudden query from Barnaby B. “Sure thing, kiddo!” She went to grab a green sweater from one of the high shelves. Meanwhile Barnaby A was already grabbing a yellowish-gold one from one of the lower shelves he could reach. Once they both had their sweaters the twins wasted no time trying them on over their suspenders and long sleeves. 

“So whaddya think?”

The sweaters themselves really looked no different from their old shared one besides the colors, but the twins stared at themselves in the nearby mirror like they’d never seen their reflections before. Possibly because, for the first time, they weren’t just each other’s reflections. They turned back to Linda, and beamed.

“I love it!” “I love it too!” “Thank you mommy.”

Ugh, she could hardly handle how cute these two could be! “No prob, lil’ mushrooms.”

They took off the sweaters and Linda made her way to the register to pay, twins following behind her. While doing this she got a look at the price tag and-

What the hell??? What the hell kind of place sells a sweater for-

“Of all the colors why’d you pick YELLOW, A?” 

“Because I just decided it was my favorite color!” 

“You look like ketchup and mustard.” 

“And you look like a Christmas tree, B.”

Linda suddenly didn’t care about the tag anymore. Today was priceless.


	4. History

Tim hadn’t thought much about their old house in the span of time between almost dying and now. But once he did, the thought of it ate away at him.

On one hand, the idea that the dreaded coal bin was destroyed gave him a certain level of comfort. But it wasn’t so much that his old home was gone that gave him these awful feelings, rather, the speed and utter carelessness with which it had been taken away. Living for the first time in the modern world made him realize how much history had been in that house. History which had been Tim’s only comfort, glossed over and gone.

It was a silly problem to have, to Tim at least. Why should he be upset over paintings and books when his family was still right here? But the thought persisted, and Linda took notice over dinner one evening. 

Tim had gradually gotten better with food, but tonight he seemed even less hungry than usual. Linda allowed him to be excused and opted to talk to him afterward. When the others had finished their meal she found the boy on the couch with a melancholic expression, and took a seat next to him.

“If there’s anything you wanna talk about, I’m here.”

“It’s...it’s stupid, really.”

“Whatever you’re feeling is NOT stupid, kiddo! Small problem or not, feelings are feelings and they’re allowed.”

After a few moment’s hesitation, Tim spoke; “Why did they tear down our house?”

Linda spent the next hour or so letting Tim vent, understanding completely and offering her arms to cry in when he finally needed to. Afterwards, she set a reminder for herself to make some phone calls the next day.

—

Tim sat in the front seat of Nanny’s car as they drove...somewhere. He wasn’t told any details about this spontaneous day trip other than that it was just for him. Tim just hoped it wasn’t another department store...

They arrived in a parking lot next to a massive stone building Tim hadn’t seen before; the local history museum.

Rather than climbing the stone steps to the front entrance, Nanny instead directed him to a side door, explaining that there was someone they were there to meet. Sure enough, a man greeted Nanny with a handshake when they entered, and then he looked at Tim with a friendly smile.

“Are you Tim Willoughby?” The man asked, holding out a hand to shake. “I’m Maxwell, one of the archivists here. It’s an honor to meet you!”

Tim held onto Nanny’s arm nervously and looked up at her. She turned to speak to Maxwell again.

“He’s a bit shy around new people, sorry!” said Linda. “Max and I went to school together, Tim. He’s agreed to show us where your house went!” 

“Our house?” Tim asked. The three of them stepped into an elevator and clicked the third floor.

“It’s such a shame what happened to House Willoughby.” said Maxwell. “It was practically a historical landmark! Not to mention home to such a great family.”

Tim gave a small smile at that comment.

Once they arrived at the third floor, Tim was greeted with the familiar smell of old books. Yet, the space itself looked much newer. Said old books were arranged neatly on shelves and he saw what looked like paintings in these weird looking racks. They walked through the space until arriving towards the back; the “W” section, at which point Maxwell opened one of the painting racks with a cotton-gloved hand.

All the familiar faces of his ancestors stared back at Tim, every large and small family portrait carefully arranged on the racks. Tim covered a gasp and looked back at Nanny.

“How did you find them?”

“I had a few connections.” She said. 

“The museum bought just about every painting and artifact they could when news of the demolition came around.” said Maxwell. “Sadly, lots of other things were sold in an auction, but we did what we could.”

Tim continued to marvel at the paintings, nostalgia and relief filling him. Then, Maxwell pulled out something else from a drawer that almost made Tim burst into tears.

“The family album...”

Tim flipped through the book after being given his own pair of cotton gloves. It was strange handling the same book he’d held so tightly every night like it could fall apart any moment, but he didn’t care. They continued to scan through the artifacts for another half hour, with Maxwell even showing Tim the scans which had been taken on the computer, assuring him that his family legacy would be preserved no matter what.

“You know, we don’t normally do this” The archivist spoke to Tim. “But since you’re a Willoughby, and we’ve got all the scans we need anyway, is there anything you’d like to take back with you?”

Linda had expected Tim to take the photo album immediately, but Tim surprised her with his answer;

“No, but thank you.”

After saying their goodbyes to Maxwell, who assured Tim that he and the rest of his family were welcome back anytime, Tim walked back to the car with Linda and smiled to himself, feeling more at peace in the moment than he had in a very, very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The way the city just straight up destroyed a house like House Willoughby in the movie bothered me so much as someone who once worked at my local museum over the summer, in the archives no less. So I had to put a happy twist on it for poor Tim!


	5. Back to Orphan Services

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna warn ya’ll that this is a bit of a serious one. Nothing too too bad, just lots of adoption and trauma talk and some Linda angst that just kinda came to me as I wrote this. I honestly don’t know a ton about the adoption process, but like, the movie wasn’t exactly realistic about it either. Aw well, hope you enjoy anyway!

The new family had been dreading this day for awhile...

The day after everyone finally moved into Melanoff’s, the children and their soon-to-be officially adoptive parents approached the very same building Tim and Linda had made their hasty escape from just weeks before; Orphan Services. Linda and Melanoff with Ruth in a baby carrier walked with the four Willoughbys in the middle, all of them wearing fearful expressions.

“Do we REALLY have to come back?” asked Tim. Out of the four, he was visibly shaking the most. 

“Believe me, Skinnybones, if we had it our way, you kids would never have to see this place again.”

Linda felt only a little bad that her biases had likely colored the kids’ impression of this place so much, but she reminded herself again and again that it wasn’t fully her fault. Being ripped away so swiftly from your siblings would traumatize ANY child, broken system or not.

An Orphan Services agent passed by them and the siblings moved closer to each other, Tim putting an arm in front of Jane and the Barnabys as if to defend them. Jane took Tim’s hand and squeezed it, and he gave her a reassuring look. Likewise, when Tim heard Barnaby A’s breathing grow rapid the way it did when he was scared, he took his brother’s hand as well while Jane took B’s. They were all here. Together. None of them were going anywhere.

The family entered the lobby and Tim felt the bad memories rise to the surface once again. Linda did too.

“You were NOT kidding about this place.” said Melanoff. “And here I was, about to let them take little Ruthie!”

“Linda?” came a familiar yet chilling voice. The head agent.

The four Willoughbys hid behind Linda as she spoke. “Yup. We’re here. Can we get this over with any faster?” 

“Protocol is protocol, Linda. We’ve sped things along for you as much as possible already.”

“These kids _cannot_ be here! Look at them! Look at what you did to them!” She gestured to the children behind her.

“We were only answering a call. Technically it was the boy who-“

“DON’T.” Linda was up in the head agent’s face now. “Don’t. Say anything. Just gimme the stupid paperwork or whatever so we can get this all over with.”

The head agent was once again taken aback by what she perceived as Linda taking initiative. “Very well.” 

Once Linda had the paperwork the family sat down and waited for whatever they had to do next. 

“Oooh I can’t wait to leave this evil place!” said Jane.

“Bad place.” “Scary place.” said the Barnabys.

“Why do we have to go through all this just to get adopted?” asked Tim. “We’re already a family!”

“I know, Tim.” said Linda. “But that’s just how it is, sadly. At least you kids got kind of a, er...” She treaded lightly bringing up the kids’ own time at OS. “A head start, system-wise, and Mel and I have already done our background checks, so it should be all over soon...”

“Still doesn’t explain why everyone’s so EVIL here!” said Jane.

“It’s...not all that black and white, tiny girlfriend. Yeah, this place could stand to learn a little empathy, but honestly,” Linda set down the paperwork after signing the final line. “It’s a good thing they exist, so kids like you can find better homes.”

“Why couldn’t you?” Tim asked, and regretted doing so immediately once he saw Nanny’s expression shift. “Nanny, I’m sorry-“

“It’s alright Tim.” she said. “I’ll...I’ll tell you another time.”

Tim still felt quite guilty about it, and shifted his focus for now over to the game the Barnabys were playing on Nanny’s phone to ease their nerves. Said easing didn’t last long as the head agent walked in yet again.

“Alright. Willoughbys, congratulations, you are officially adopted.” 

Well, that was not what they had expected to hear. But sure enough, the head agent held up a certificate with all their names on it.

“Wait, what?” asked Linda, taken aback. “What happened to ‘protocol’?” 

“We...decided to pull some strings.” She handed Linda the certificate and took off her sunglasses. “Ever since you and Timothy made the news after escaping, there’s been much call for reform at our agency. We’re sorry, we should never have separated the children.”

“I...really don’t know what to say.”

“No need to say a thing, Linda. It was the least we could do. However, there is one more thing...”

“What’s that?”

The head agent smiled and held up a camera. “A family photo.”

As the new family smiled for the camera, adoption certificate in hand, Linda played the head agent’s words over and over in her head. Reform. We’re sorry.

_Why couldn’t you?_

Linda forced a smile as the camera flashed, wondering where the hell _her_ apology was...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s no way taking that photo in the end credits wasn’t at least a little uncomfortable. Linda’s smile looked forced to me, which is what inspired this!
> 
> I also wanted to portray Orphan Services here as a deeply flawed agency that ultimately has good intentions. Many people thought they were too villanized in the movie and I wanted to remedy that somehow.


	6. Board Game

Barnaby B stared out the living room window overlooking the factory’s entrance, watching rain drops stream down the glass and anxiously waiting for Nanny’s car to pull in. This was the longest he’d ever been separated from Barnaby A, and it was even scarier given where he’d gone. 

After their official adoption, Orphan Services had referred Nanny to a pediatrician and scheduled appointments for the children to get check-ups and start catching up on vaccinations, and A was up first. B had asked to go along, but Nanny had insisted he’d be bored to death waiting. (And also secretly believed a little time apart might benefit both of the twins. It was something that had to happen eventually...)

“What’s the matter, son?” asked Melanoff, who had appeared behind Barnaby B and put a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m scared for A.”

“He’ll be alright, Barnaby.” said Tim, who looked up from the drawing he’d been working on at the coffee table. “Nanny’s there with him. She said doctors are nothing to fear!”

“I read a book about doctors once.” said Jane, who had appeared from the other room. “There were all these pictures of bones and leeches and super long needles and-“

 _“JANE!”_ Tim and Melanoff shouted at the same time. 

“What?”

Suddenly Melanoff’s phone alerted him to a text. “That should be Linda letting us know they’re on their way back!” He looked at the text and then back at B, visibly concerned.

“Are they?” 

“They, um, actually might be awhile. Apparently, A has to go get a chest x-ray.”

“What?!” said Tim. “Is he sick???” asked Jane. B was trembling now, and hid his face in his sweater.

“She didn’t say! I guess that’s what they’re trying to find out.” Melanoff picked up the cowering B and offered a comforting embrace. “He’ll be okay. I’m sure he will.”

Some of B’s tension eased as the candy maker set him down, but he and his two older siblings were still clearly a bit unsettled. Melanoff wished the rain would stop so they could all go to a park or something, but the weather seemed to reflect the overall mood of the day; restless and uncertain.

These kids needed a distraction, he decided. Something unrelated to TV or internet so as to bond with his adopted children a bit more. What did kids their age like to do? What did Melanoff like to do at that age?

Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in his head. “Lickety Twist!” Melanoff rushed upstairs to dig for something in the attic, much to the confusion of the three Willoughbys.

He returned with a dusty box embellished with faded artwork, then set it down on the coffee table. “What do you say we play one of my favorite games? I present to you, _Candyyy-_

_-Land?”_

Melanoff lifted the lid off the box, revealing the dusty, worn out contents within. Indeed, it must have been years since the board game was taken out of the attic. The kids looked at the pieces-many of them missing. Tim unfolded the game board itself only for it to snap in half. A spider crawled out of the box which Jane let onto her hand.

“Heh...well, my edition is a bit old, but we can make it work!” Melanoff went to shuffle some cards only for them to crumble into dust, not unlike the lobster from the Willoughby house wall. The candy maker sighed, accepting that the game was clearly unplayable. But he wasn’t so much upset about that as he was about the worried frown worn by Barnaby B, clearly still thinking about his twin.

While Melanoff pondered what to do next, Jane let the spider crawl onto the table and across the drawing Tim was working on. Tim himself noticed this and jolted up, swatting at it with a piece of construction paper. As Jane laughed at this, she looked at the art supplies on the table, then back at the damaged board game, and got that signature glint in her eye, meaning one thing...

“Hey, what if-“

“Oh, here we go...” said Tim, right before noticing the spider on his shoulder and tripping on his own feet.

“What if,” Jane continued. “We fixed it!”

“Fixed it?”

“Yeah! Like with your paints and stuff. You’ve gotten good at art lately, so I’m sure you could paint the board, Tim!”

The eldest Willoughby couldn’t help but take the compliment. “That’s not one of your worst what ifs.”

“I suppose we could do that! It’s not like this old thing was in mint condition anyway.” said Melanoff. “Are you in, B?”

For the first time that day, Melanoff saw a hint of a smile on the young boy’s face.

—

The afternoon flew by and the little craft project quickly devolved from simply repairing Candy Land into something that hardly resembled it. New rules were created, new cards and pieces were made, and new art was added to the glue-repaired board. Tim, as it turned out, was getting very good with art in his spare time, painting the board to resemble the city with the innermost goal point resembling the old Willoughby house. 

“What’s this?” asked Jane, holding up a card with a very familiar caricature holding a guitar.

“Rocker Jane is the wild card! That’s the one that sets you back ten steps when you pull it.”

“Why am I the bad card?!”

“Because every time you play that loud music you’ve gotten into lately, I wish I was here.” Tim pointed to a spot on the board and Jane stuck out her tongue at him. Melanoff laughed. In addition to the art skills, Tim Willoughby had a sense of humor, believe it or not.

Barnaby B presented his own pieces of the game he’d been working on; two small rocks shaped like little mushrooms painted to look like himself and his twin. He’d steadily let his worries about Barnaby A dissolve as the four of them worked on the game; fittingly dubbed “Willoughby Land” by Jane. Before they knew it, a key was heard turning in the front door.

“We’re home!”

B stood up and immediately ran to the door, where Nanny and Barnaby A hung up their rain jackets. B nearly tackled his brother in a hug, much to A’s bewilderment.

“Barnaby A, you’re alright! Wait, are you alright?”

“B, I’m okay.” He said. The rest of his siblings came to greet him as well.

“What was the doctor like? Were there any bones or leeches?!” asked Jane.

“No.” said A. “Actually, it was pretty nice there!”

“Nice?”

“Yes! They had toys and a fish tank and a TV on the wall. Also, the needles aren’t nearly that big.” A rolled up his sleeve to show off two brightly colored bandaids. “It really felt like nothing!”

“Well, that’s good to know.” said Tim. “But why did you need an x-ray?”

“Oh, right...” A reached into his pocket and pulled out a strange, cylindrical object. “It turns out I have...what was it called, mommy?”

“Asthma.” 

“It means I have trouble breathing sometimes.”

“Oh, like that time we all rolled up into a rug burrito and you turned purple?” asked Jane.

“He turned WHAT?!”

“Nothing, Nanny!”

“But I’ll be fine as long as I have this!” said A, holding the inhaler to his mouth to demonstrate. B noticed a button on the device and reached out to push it before A held it away from him. “B! This one’s mine!”

“Aww...”

“You came home just in time to play Willoughby Land with us!” said Melanoff.

“Okay, what’s Willoughby Land?” asked Nanny.

“You’ll see!”

And so the rest of the evening was spent playing Willoughby Land, which slowly became less about winning and more about keeping Ruth from eating the pieces. Laughs and stories were shared about Tim falling over because of a spider and the many machines Barnaby A wasn’t allowed to touch in the x-ray lab. Overall, it was a perfectly imperfect family night. As it should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know if this chapter is too long, or if I’m just only used to writing short ones! Oh well, I hope you enjoyed it either way and it was worth my long absence 😅
> 
> Barnaby A having asthma was actually a detail from the book! I wanted to incorporate that into my fic, as well as other little book easter eggs in future chapters!


	7. The Cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Big inspo wave hit me lately so have yet another chapter!

It was days like this that made him REALLY miss roaming free in the city.

Not that he would ever leave his new family -how could he after everything?- but not even the big, wide open world prepared him for these kids. Cat’s inner monologue was interrupted as he evaded another swipe of a net and quickly rounded a corner, skidding into the kitchen and hopping from the floor to the countertop to the top of the fridge, where he hoped that his pursuers wouldn’t spot him.

His tail stood on end as he heard the sound of footsteps, then a voice;

“Psst psst psst, here kitty kitty kitty! Cat, where are you?”

Jane searched around the kitchen along with a net-wielding Barnaby B, while Cat hid behind a jar of jellybeans on top of the fridge. Just when he thought the two kids had given up, his nervously swishing tail knocked a box of crackers down onto the floor.

“There, Jane!”

And that was his cue to run.

Cat jumped off the fridge and ran down a hallway, right towards a den with a couch he could hide under for a good three days. However, he didn’t get that far before another net snuck up on him and he was trapped.

“I got him!”

“Nice job, A!”

Cat thrashed around in vain as Jane approached the net. She leaned close to him and spoke.

“I’m sorry, Cat, but you have to have your flea bath!”

What followed were thirty miserable minutes of splashing, scrubbing, and rinsing before being thoroughly toweled off by Jane and dual blow-dried by the Barnabys. When they finished, Cat’s fur puffed up in a terrifically cartoonish fashion which made the twins burst out in giggles.

“Jane, look!”

Jane laughed right along with them at Cat’s expense and in that moment, he decided to let them have this one. 

After all, he’d hardly ever seen them laugh like this some months ago.

—

Cat peeked into the slightly open door of Tim’s bedroom where, as he’d hoped, the boy was sitting at his desk. Perfect.

He slipped through the door and into the room, where Tim was heard grumbling some confused nonsense. The eldest Willoughby was attempting to figure out his new laptop computer. Perhaps he could help...

He hopped up onto the desk and Tim let out a surprised yelp. “Oh, it’s just you, Cat.”

Tim gave him a little scratch on his head. Now we’re getting somewhere! Cat stretched and Tim pet him some more before he walked right across the keyboard.

“Hey! I was working on something!”

Blatantly ignoring the boy’s protests, Cat made himself comfortable on the device, purring all the while Tim shooed him. It wasn’t going to work. It never did. He continued laying there, tail swishing mischievously. Three, two, one...

“Haha, alright. Guess I won’t get much of anything done today...”

Cat purred contentedly as Tim went back to petting him, enjoying both the scratches and the moment’s joy he was able to bring the previously troubled young man just by being there.

He didn’t like picking favorites, but Tim was certainly up there.

—

It wasn’t quite like peeking into high-rise apartments, but watching TV with the family was always a treat. Sometimes it’d be all of them gathered around a popcorn movie, or Jane watching that silly teen singing show she was so obsessed with. Though he didn’t particularly like the times when a baby show was put on for Ruth and the infant was free to wander and try to grab his tail.

This particular evening, it was just Linda, Cat, and some late night programs. This was an instance that happened at least once a week, mostly on weekends and often accompanied by a bottle of wine. It seemed less like entertainment for the nanny and moreso like a distraction. From what, he wasn’t sure.

“Ugh! No, why would you pick that one?!” Linda yelled at the game show contestant even though it was impossible for them to hear her. Eventually she was frustrated by the program and flicked through the channels once more, stopping once she saw a familiar face on the news.

 _“I assure you we’re doing everything we can to address the concerns of the public.”_ the Orphan Services head agent spoke through the TV.

“Like hell you are.” 

The news cut to commercial and Cat got up to stretch before taking his usual spot on Linda’s lap. It was just about that time when she’d ask...

“Do you think I’m doing alright? As a parent, I mean?”

 _Of bloody course you are!_ Cat would say if he weren’t, well...a cat. Instead, he answers with an affectionate lick of her hand as she scratches his chin. That always does the trick.

“Thanks, Cat. Sometimes I think you’re the only one I can talk to...”

—

Nightmares were all too common in this house. 

Multiple times per month, thrashing and screaming would wake Cat from his slumber. His ears would perk up and he’d investigate the source. It was usually Tim, but Jane and the Barnabys had their fair share as well. But no matter who it was, Cat would then slip through their door.

_“No...not the coal bin, father, please...!”_

_“Tim!...Tim I’m...sorry I’m so...bad sister...”_

_“Sweater...cold...so cold...”_

Sleep talking runs in the family, it seems.

Cat would then hop onto the bed -yes, even Barnaby A’s top bunk if he had to- and slowly stir them awake. They’d be startled at first by his shadow before they realized. _Oh, Cat, it’s just you..._

They’d turn on a light and pet him for a little while. Sometimes he would snuggle next to Tim or Jane while they read a book. He’d occasionally even let a Barnaby squish his paw pads, which fascinated them for some reason he didn’t quite get. Though no matter what, that kid would always drift back into a peaceful sleep afterwards, Cat himself sleeping soundly at the foot of their bed.

Roaming free in the city had been nice, but times like these made him glad he found these Willoughby kids. _His_ Willoughby kids.


	8. Haircut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Netflix fun facts about the Willoughbys video: did you know Jane has NEVER cut her hair?
> 
> me, a fic writer: it’s free real estate

“What on Earth is going on here, Skinnybones?” 

Tim yelped and nearly fell off his step stool in front of the mirror, then froze as he turned to face Nanny, who stood in front of the wide open bathroom door. The kitchen scissors which had just barely touched the hair peeking out from his head protector clattered into the sink. Next to him, the Barnabys sat at the edge of the bathtub, and Linda noticed their overgrown bangs now obscured their eyes.

“Tim, what was that?” asked A. “Are you done? Can I go next?” asked B.

“I...um...” Tim stammered, anticipating a scolding from the nanny. Deep down he knew that wouldn’t happen, but old habits die hard. Linda helped Tim’s shaking form down from the step stool and spoke gently.

“Hey, hey Tim, it’s alright. It’s just me.” She said. Linda picked up the scissors from the sink and quickly put 2 and 2 together. “Giving yourselves a trim?”

Tim’s eyes darted to the floor as he nodded bashfully, head protector in hand. The Barnabys might have worn the same expression, but it was hard to tell through the bangs. “Are we in trouble?”

“What? No!” said Linda. “But I will say this; kitchen shears should stay in the kitchen.” She ruffled Tim’s hair as she said this and was glad to hear a soft chuckle out of him, signaling that the panic had passed.

“How would you guys feel about going for a _professional_ haircut? I know this cute little place downtown that’s super friendly and great with kids!”

Tim considered the idea for a moment, then recalled a certain quote from chapter ten of _The Great Book of Great Willoughbys (Being Great); “A Willoughby’s hair, much like their mustache, is their crowning glory.”_ And here he was, about to use kitchen shears on it! 

“I think I’d like that.” said Tim. “Barnabys?”

“I would too.” “Me too!”

“Eeee! Fun!” Linda exclaimed, excited at the idea of this little family haircut party. “Hey, where’s tiny girlfriend? She has _got_ to get in on this.” 

However, before she could go off to find the middle Willoughby, the bathroom door was quickly shut and locked. Linda was about to say something before Tim climbed up the step stool and put a finger to her lips.

“I would NOT bring this up with Jane if I were you...” Tim said, then brought his voice down to a whisper. “The truth is, she’s _terrified_ of haircuts. Ever since the day she learned how Mother made her yarn...”

“How did she make her yarn?”

“You don’t wanna know.” said A. “Really don’t wanna know.” said B.

“Either way, I’ve tried getting through to her for years. She will _not_ do it.” said Tim. 

Linda was surprised at this new information. Jane? The same girl who wasn’t afraid of bugs or beasts or flying across the world in a candy dirigible? Then again, that would explain her incredibly long hair. It was beautiful, and Linda was a full advocate for letting children have bodily autonomy, but a fear like that could certainly cause issues in the future...

Ignoring Tim’s warning, she made a mental note to talk to Jane later.

——

Surprisingly enough, Jane had agreed to accompany Nanny and her brothers to the little unisex salon, if only to watch. Linda assured the girl that she was under no obligation to do anything she didn’t feel comfortable with, and that made her feel a bit better. But it didn’t stop the nervous knot she felt in her stomach as she and her adoptive mom sat in the waiting area. Jane overheard the stylists fawning over her siblings’ hair as they had to all of them when they’d first walked in. People REALLY love red hair, it seems.

Jane sighed through her nose, and Nanny placed a reassuring hand over her own. “Holding up alright?”

She smiled softly and nodded. Nanny had the power to make any situation just a little less scary. Jane thought back to the day they met, how excited she was to meet somebody else who sang, and the flowers Nanny put in her hair after twirling it up. She didn’t know what came over her when she allowed Nanny to do that, but Jane hadn’t recalled feeling quite so _good_ about her appearance before then. That small moment had eclipsed a lifetime of fear that her hair might be harvested for yarn.

Mother was gone now, and Jane wanted to feel that good again.

As if on cue, Tim appeared back in the waiting area, running a hand through his freshly trimmed locks. He didn’t look much different at first glance, but the ends were noticeably less blunt and his shaved sides now faded up into the longer hair on top. 

“Ahhh, Tim! You look so handsome!” said Linda. A vibrant blush crossed the boy’s face.

“Thank you, Nanny. Hey...where’s Jane?”

Linda turned back to Jane’s seat to see that the girl was missing, only to then spot her being guided to a salon chair. 

Meanwhile, Barnaby A and B’s haircuts were just finishing up as well. Their’s also looked less blunt now and their bangs had a bit of a sweep to them. They looked in the mirror and then at each other, smiling approvingly.

“Looking sharp, Barnaby!” “You too, Barnaby.”

Then the two noticed their sister sitting down at the wash basin and went slack-jawed in surprise.

Any remaining nerves Jane had dissipated as she got her hair washed. This was _nice_. She let her mind wander for a bit up until the moment the stylist held up a length of hair and asked “This much?” 

Jane hadn’t thought that far before jumping into this...but what the heck, she’d made it this far after all. “Yes.”

She felt a strange lightness with every snip, which only felt more apparent after the blow dry. Jane looked up at the end result in the mirror and covered a gasp.

It was still very long, albeit to her waist now instead of her ankles. The ends curled up slightly and two shorter pieces framed her face. She ran a hand through it and couldn’t believe how _soft_ it was. It felt so strange, but in a good way. A _great_ way.

“I LOVE it!”

Jane skipped happily back to where her brothers and Linda waited for her. The nanny hugged her tight and twirled her around as they both laughed and Linda spoke in excited gibberish about how dang PRETTY she looked. Jane looked expectantly at her siblings, still gawking at her in disbelief. 

“WHO ARE YOU?!” asked Barnaby A. “AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH OUR SISTER?!” B finished.

Jane pouted and crossed her arms. “Why _thank you_ , Barnabys! I’m _so_ glad you like it...”

The exchange had Linda laughing all the way to the car. When they all got in, Tim sat next to Jane and nudged her shoulder playfully.

“Hey Jane?”

“Yeah?”

“Proud of you.”

Jane smiled as she watched the city pass by out the car window. She could get used to feeling this good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good GOD you have no idea how much I agonized over this chapter...
> 
> The fact that Jane had never cut her hair even though she had the option to and it’s described by character designers as her comfort blanket? Makes sense. But the fact that Nanny did the flowers thing just threw a wrench in my whole idea for awhile. I hope I struck a balance though...as a former long-haired haircut anxiety child I couldn’t help projecting onto Jane. Also just wanted to write something really fun and fluffy. Self esteem, self esteem for everyone!


	9. Babysitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SO sorry for the wait! I started a new job and it’s been taking up a lot of my energy. I don’t plan on abandoning this fic anytime soon though, I’ve got many more ideas in mind! In the meantime, enjoy!

“Shhh shh Ruth, Ruthie it’s okay!” Jane soothed over the infant’s shrill cries. It didn’t stop however, and Jane looked to her older brother for help.

“Maybe she’s hungry?” Tim said. “Go sit her down and I’ll get something ready.”

Meanwhile, the Barnabys were at the kitchen table working on another new contraption of theirs. Or at least they were trying to in spite of the horrible, grating baby cries.

Nanny and Melanoff had made plans to go out for dinner with some of Nanny’s friends, citing the need for some much overdue grown-up time after a busy, activity-filled summer. They’d almost cancelled after realizing they had nobody to watch Ruth, but somehow Jane convinced them it’d be a good idea to leave the four of them in charge of their baby stepsister. 

_“They’re in love, I think!”_ she’d told Tim. _“They deserve to go out._ ” 

_“I honestly can’t tell what they are sometimes…”_ Tim had said.

The crying grew closer as Jane sat Ruth down in her high chair, right next to the twins and their machine pieces scattered across the table. Ruth’s crying suddenly stopped as she reached out a tiny hand and grabbed some sort of gear, nearly eating it before Tim swiped it out of her grip.

“A? B? Would you mind cleaning this up a bit?” he asked.

“Yes Tim.” The Barnabys chorused flatly. Babies seemed to ruin everything fun...

They gathered the pieces and proceeded to move their project to their bedroom. On an average day, the twins would work in their own little corner of the factory that Melanoff had set aside for them under his supervision, but because he wasn’t there, the factory was closed off now and baby-proofed to prevent Ruth from getting inside. 

Baby-proofed, but not Barnaby-proofed…

The twins looked at each other with pure, unconcentrated mischief in their eyes. “B, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” “I certainly am, A.”

—

“What’s up with the twins?” Jane said while stirring some baby food in a little plastic bowl.

“What do you mean?” asked Tim.

“I mean, it’s like they want nothing to do with Ruth. She’s their sister too, y’know.”

Tim hadn’t thought about it much, but now that Jane pointed it out, A and B hadn’t done much to help them all afternoon. Granted, he and Jane were doing pretty well by themselves, (Practically raising Jane on his own, and the two of them raising the twins had made them quite good with babies when there were no horrible parents to sneak around) but as Jane pointed out, Ruth was the Barnabys’ sister, too.

“I’ll go talk to them.” said Tim, but Jane stopped him in his tracks before he could.

“Uh, Tim…”

And that was when he realized they’d made the mistake of turning their backs. Ruth had vanished from the high chair.

—

After five short minutes of picking locks and bypassing security systems, the factory door was finally unlocked. Barnaby A and B immediately rushed inside, as entranced by the endless levers and buttons as they had been the first day they saw it.

“Oh sweet factory!” said A. “Our sanctuary from-“

“A..?”

The yellow-clad twin skidded to a halt. “What is it, B?”

“Behind you…”

Confused, A looked over his shoulder...and was met with the pink, wide-eyed menace that currently clung to his sweater. He was about to scream before B covered his mouth. Too much noise would blow their cover.

“Get her off me!” 

“I’m trying!” 

B finally yanked the infant off of A...only for her to then cling to his own sweater sleeve by the mouth. 

“Augh! Ruth! No!” 

Barnaby A returned the favor by pulling Ruth off B’s sleeve. B looked at the drool spot in disgust before each twin held the baby by an ear, not unlike when she’d first been let loose in house Willoughby.

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know! I was hoping you’d know!”

“I was hoping _you’d_ know!”

Ruth only giggled at them, outstretching an arm toward each of the twins. They glared at her, and proceeded to plop her into a nearby crate.

“There.” “That’ll keep you from-“

“ **BARNABYS!!!** ”

The twins looked up to see a furious Tim and Jane in the overlooking window.

“What were you thinking?! You know the factory’s off limits!”

“Where’s Ruth?!”

They turned back to the crate, only to find it empty. Frantically, the Barnabys ran around in search of their baby sister, only to then spot her on one of the higher conveyor belts. Thankfully, the machines weren’t on this time, and there was no candy on the belt to lead Ruth too far, but the predicament was still dire…

“Jane, I can’t look…” said Tim. 

In that moment, fueled by what could only be described as pure older-brotherly instinct, A and B had an idea. Zipping over to their little corner lab, the Barnabys grabbed a half-finished dirigible and quickly set to work. Within seconds the machine was ready to fly, and they remote-controlled it towards the conveyor belt. Jane and Tim looked on in awe.

The dirigible seemed to be covered in various colorful baubles surrounding a platform. It flashed lights and played a simple song. It was a floating baby toy, essentially. Ruth was instantly entranced by the contraption and crawled her way onto the platform, allowing the twins to gently bring her back to the ground.

“We got her!”

Tim and Jane ran down to the lower level, where Jane picked up Ruth and held her tight. However, Tim still glared at the twins, who lowered their eyes to the floor in shame.

“We’re sorry Tim!” “Please don’t tell mommy and papa!” “We’ll do anything!”

Tim’s expression softened a bit. “Oh, I won’t...but only if you two help us take care of Ruth.”

A and B nodded frantically, willing to put up with anything if it meant not getting their factory privileges revoked. 

“I know it must be really strange now, not being the youngest anymore,” Tim continued. “But we’ve always looked out for our family, and Ruth’s a part of it now. For what it’s worth, I think she’ll be lucky to have you two as big brothers.”

“You think so?”

“I know it.”

Ruth looked back at the Barnabys from over Jane’s shoulder, smiling at them, and the twins couldn’t help but mirror it.

“Hey twins?” asked Jane. “If Ruth got in here by accident, why was that dirigible already half built?”

Their smiles fell immediately as they flushed bright red.

“Awww! Tim, look, they do care!”

“NO.” “STOP TALKING.”

The older siblings laughed at the youngers’ expense, leading the way out as the twins trailed behind them. Ruth continued smiling at the Barnabys, and the twins couldn’t help dropping their grumpy facades for just a moment. Maybe they’ll be fine at the whole older sibling thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There isn’t enough “Barnabys being big siblings“ content out there, had to fix that!
> 
> Next up, the chapters you’ve all been waiting for...the kids start school!


	10. School, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the multi-chapter school one babey!! Each one's gonna focus on each of the kids, but this one's a prologue of sorts. Enjoy!

Faint beeping gradually awoke Jane from her slumber. She flicked on her bedside lamp, hit snooze, rubbed her eyes and put on her glasses. Glancing at the _Star School_ themed calendar on her night stand (a gift from Nanny after being a champ through her first optometrist appointment) Jane glanced at the date and gasped.

“Today’s the day!”

She immediately shot out of bed and down the hallway to Tim’s room. With little regard for privacy or state of sleep, Jane opened the door and turned on the overhead lights.

“Tim! _Tiiiiiiiiiiim!!!_ ”

The eldest Willoughby jolted awake from a very pleasant dream of the mustache-having variety before shielding his eyes from the sudden brightness. Groggily, he spoke;

“Wh...Jane? What time is it…?”

“Today’s the day, Tim!”

Those words were all it took to get Tim scrambling out of bed. Jane continued on to the twins’ room to wake them as well, and soon enough each Willoughby kid was wide awake and getting dressed in their respective rooms. 

Tim looked at himself in the uniform Nanny had laid out for him the night before; a long-sleeved, heather blue cardigan with some sort of emblem embroidered on the left side and a pair of black shorts. It reminded him a lot of the clothes he and his siblings wore, hand-me-downs scrounged up from the attic of House Willoughby, except these were new. The familiarity was comforting, and gave Tim a brief respite from the nagging nervous thoughts he had about the day ahead.

Jane and the Barnabys -with Barnaby B standing on A’s head to reach the sink- brushed their teeth side by side. The three of them were dressed in the same blue cardigans and black shorts (or skirt in Jane’s case). Before A and B swapped places, the two looked at each other in their identical outfits, then up at their sister.

“Jane?”

After pausing to spit, Jane answered; “Yeah twins?”

“Be honest,” “Can you tell us apart like this?”

 _Aw crap_ , she thought. This was really hard without the sweaters. Jane’s eyes darted rapidly from one twin to the other as she wracked her brain for any discernible characteristic. A and B could tell she was having trouble and sighed.

“I still don’t see why we can’t wear our sweaters.” said A. He turned back to his twin. “Certainly they could make an exception. We’re a special case, B!”

“Can we maybe complain about the uniform code later?” B asked, wrinkling his nose and handing A his respective toothbrush. “Your breath could wake the _dead_ …”

Barnaby A took a very deep, deliberate breath right in B’s face before hopping up onto his head. B sneered and A smiled smugly while Jane just stood there and laughed. She loved getting these glimpses of the twins’ burgeoning personalities.

“I think the other kids will tell you two apart in no time.” 

Once they’d all freshened up, the four Willoughbys waited at the kitchen table for their adoptive parents to wake up. Nanny arrived first, still half asleep, and put the coffee on before the kids at the table startled her into alertness.

“Good morning, Nanny!” said Jane.

“Ah! Oh..kids? It’s six in the morning…excited for school, I’m guessing?”

The four of them nodded, though Tim seemed a bit more focused on the coffee dripping into the pot, which Nanny took notice of.

“Uh-uh, not today, Skinnybones.”

“But _Nanny_ …”

“Nope! Can’t have you caffeine crashing in homeroom.” Linda spoke as she began preparing some oats. “Coffee’s fine for late-night flying around the world, but school’s a different story, kiddo.”

“I’ll eat _all_ my oats.” Tim said, putting on a pleading expression he’d learned Nanny could never say no to. Linda sighed and poured a second mug.

“Fine. But don’t complain when the Barnabys end up taller than you, ‘kay?”

“Like that’ll happen…” Tim said as he took a long sip of the coffee. As Linda placed a bowl of oats in front of each kid, Jane held out a hair elastic towards her.

“Nanny! Can you do that thing you showed me? Please?”

“Of course, Jane.” said Linda. She stood behind Jane’s seat and began parting her hair. “I’ll have to show _you_ how to do this eventually.”

The five of them made idle conversation during their breakfast, before Melanoff and Ruth finally joined them as well.

“Well, isn’t everyone looking spiffy this morning! What’s the occasion?”

“ _School’s_ the occasion, Mel! It’s their first day!” said Linda.

“Right, right, I knew that!” said Melanoff. He feigned wiping a tear from his eye. “They grow up so fast, don’t they?”

Linda put the finishing touches on Jane’s hair and handed the girl her phone to view her handiwork in the front camera; a single french braid. Delighted, Jane stood up and twirled around. 

“Thank you, Nanny!”

“Y’know, I think today’s one for the scrapbook. Pictures after breakfast, everyone!”

“More pictures?” asked Tim. “Don’t we have A LOT of those…?” Barnaby B followed. They both had come to be the least photogenic of the family, but always wound up participating anyhow.

“Yes. And also yes but still not enough. Don’t think you’re getting out of this, you two.”

Several embarrassing first-day-of-school photos later, it was time to get going. Linda went over everything they needed before they said their goodbyes to Melanoff. On their way out to the car, Nanny suddenly remembered something else.

“Barnaby A! Inhaler?”

“I didn’t forget it, mommy!”

“Technically, _I_ didn’t forget it.” 

“ ** _B!_** ”

And with that, the Willoughbys were off to their first day of school.

—

Linda pulled the car up in front of a large brick building with the words **LOWRY ACADEMY** carved above the entrance. Similarly blue-uniformed kids of varying ages mingled outside, waiting for the bell to signal the start of the day. The four Willoughbys looked out the windows in awe, having never seen so many kids in one place before.

“And remember, if anyone asks, you guys were-“

“Homeschooled, right!” said Tim. “We’ve got it, Nanny.”

They exited the car, followed by Linda, who gave them each a hug and a kiss before sending them on their way.

“Have a good day!”

Linda got back in the car and watched the four siblings disappear into the crowd through the rearview mirror, feeling proud, bittersweet, and anxious all at once. Orphan Services recommended the local K-12 charter with the reasoning that it would be an easy transition for the old-fashioned children. She drove off, and hoped those bozos were right for once…

The siblings stood together in the courtyard, still just staring at the crowd of kids surrounding them, observing how they mingled and played and laughed at whatever was on their phones. Nobody seemed to acknowledge them, save for a few odd looks here and there. 

“Well, this is it, I guess…” said Tim. “You know where you’re going?”

“We’re in Mrs. Moreno’s second grade class.” said Barnaby B, gesturing to himself and A.

“I’ve got Mr. Valentine’s fourth grade class!” said Jane. “What about you, Tim?”

“All my classes have different teachers! It’s honestly a bit confusing. I also have to find my Peer Mentor.”

“Peer Mentor?”

“Some older kid who gets to show me around.”

“Huh.” Jane said. “Well, I hope they’re nice...hey Tim?”

“Yeah?”

“You...got to meet other kids before, right?” Jane made sure to tread lightly when talking about his time in various foster homes. “What were they like?”

The bell rang out before Tim could answer, and suddenly the mixture of kids were congregating into groups. The four stood unmoving, uncertain what to do next and suddenly terrified to leave each other.

“We have to go! I’ll see you guys after-”

Tim was disrupted as he suddenly found himself wrapped in his sister’s hug. Startled, he could only return it.

“Good luck.” said Jane.

“You too.”

“And you too, Barnabys.”

The twins had joined the group hug right after Jane started it, but seconds later the four were forced to disband and find their respective classes. Each of them felt varying levels of excitement, fear, and total uncertainty.

They’d climbed the unclimbable before, how hard could this be?


	11. School, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SO sorry again for the wait! This next set of chapters are proving to be the hardest I've written yet, and I wanted them all to work together cohesively! 
> 
> Quick warning for this one: towards the end there's a panic attack/ptsd blackout. Nothing too graphic (because I'm not that great of a writer :P) but enough to just give a heads up! Enjoy!

Unfortunately for Tim, sixth grade was considered middle school here.

Disorienting rows of identical lockers and muted checkered floors followed Tim as he himself followed his peer mentor through the sea of adolescents. The eighth grader seemed more occupied with greeting his own classmates than the boy he was supposedly mentoring, so it didn’t take long for Tim to figure things out on his own with his map and schedule he’d been given.

If there was one part of being a Willoughby he’d neglected to read about, it was their schooling. Because why would he when he could read about the fun parts? Of course, now Tim was mentally kicking himself for this lack of preparedness, for not looking into it on one of his visits with Maxwell at the museum. He even the tiniest bit regretted not watching Jane’s stupid TV shows with her, if only to get a better sense of what this might be like. 

What useful information the mentor did give him was the location of his locker and homeroom, which Tim hurried along to. He might have hurried a little too much, as he soon found himself colliding with another student on his way there, falling clumsily to the ground.

“Oh- oh my gosh I’m so sorry here let me-!”

As soon as Tim got a look at the kid whose notebooks he’d just sent tumbling to the floor, any remaining words were just...stuck. As if the boy in front of him just stole his ability to speak using only his eyes. His deep, brown eyes...

Where was he again? 

“It’s all good, no worries!” The boy said, snapping Tim out of his momentary daze. He collected his notebooks and looked at him quizzically. “Hey, are you new?”

Tim could only manage a nod and a quiet “uh huh” in response as the boy helped him up and _why the Willoughby were his knees shaking so much?_ Maybe the coffee was a bad idea after all…

“Oh, cool!” The boy said, tucking a piece of dark, curly hair behind his ear. “We don’t get many new kids since like, most of us have been here since kindergarten! Haha..”

Tim once again offered little response aside from a soft chuckle. 

“I..um, we should probably get going huh? I’ll see you around...what’s your name?”

“Tim.”

The boy smiled, and Tim committed his next words to memory. “I’m Leo. Welcome to Lowry!”

—-

The hours that followed weren’t nearly as welcoming as homeroom had been. Already Tim had seen at least two kids that looked very similar to him get shoved into lockers by much bigger, scarier kids, and the student body in general was just… _rude_.. Both in their lack of respect towards the teachers AND towards each other. So far none of it had been directed towards him, but Tim could swear some of these kids were looking at him funny…though it could just be his own insecurities that somehow intensified in the presence of so many judgemental tweens.

Tim did enjoy his classes. History was a favorite, obviously, but English class was now coming in at a close second, because, well…

“Leo, could you read off the next vocab word and its definition?” The teacher asked.

“Infatuate: to inspire or possess with a foolish or unreasoning passion, as of love.”

Tim knew he liked boys from a very early age. Despite appearing old-fashioned, Willoughbys had always been notoriously ahead of their time. They were abolitionists, feminists, and advocates of science among other things. As such, many were also openly gay, including his Great Uncle Edmund. Tim had to wonder if even a great, confident man such as him ever got as nervous around a boy as he was feeling right now.

Leo locked eyes with him for a brief second which made Tim realize he’d been staring. He quickly turned his head down to the vocabulary packet on his desk, pretending to study words he already knew. Several minutes passed and the teacher called on him.

“Tim, would you like to read the next definition?” she asked.  
“Y-yes ma’am!” Tim said, and began to read. “Infatuate: to inspire or possess with a foolish or unreasoning passion, as of love.”

Several students giggled, and the teacher raised an eyebrow.

“You might wanna flip to the next page, Tim.” she said. “Your word was ‘predicament’.”

Upon the realization of what word he’d just read aloud, Tim frantically turned the pages of his packet, trembling with embarrassment. Throughout the rest of the class, he saw kids sitting near him whisper behind their hands (not Leo, fortunately.). Though he couldn’t make anything out, their eyes were clearly on him.

This day was turning out absolutely splendid...

__

By the time lunch rolled around, Tim had all but resigned himself to his loner fate. No book, no family record, and no TV show could have prepared him for whatever _this_ was. He sat at the farthest corner in the cafeteria, barely touching his lunch (which was a far cry from Nanny’s home cooked meals, he’d noticed.). He looked to where Leo sat and talked with some other students, likely friends from the way they seemed to laugh and steal each other’s tater tots. As much as he wanted to, Tim couldn’t bring himself to join him, not after he’d made a fool of himself in English class…

With his appetite non-existent, Tim decided to get a head start on his reading. There’d been a book report due that day, but since he was new, his English teacher gave him a chance to catch up. They’d been given a choice of about four books, all of which were classic literature Tim had read before except for one called _A Wrinkle in Time_. As such, he’d decided on that one and acquired the book from the school library. Before he could start, however, somebody called his name.

“Tim? Is that you?”

A voice, somehow familiar yet not belonging to any of his family members brought him out of his thoughts. A boy with blonde hair and a rather short, darker-skinned girl approached his table. It took Tim a moment to recognize the boy, but once he did, his day suddenly became a little bit better.

“Bobby!”

“Dude, how’ve you been?” The boy now identified as Bobby Waddington sat down next to him, the girl joining him as well. “Since when do you go to Lowry? I haven’t seen you since, well…”

“Haha, yeah. This is my first year! I was homeschooled up until now, ” Tim white-lied. “By the way, I never got to thank you for helping me escape that day, so...thank you! Also, could you tell Miss Waddington I’m sorry? It was nothing personal…”

“Oh, don’t worry about it! After mom saw you on TV, she was more mad at Orphan Services than anyone else.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! It became like a whole thing. Foster parents everywhere are NOT having it with them. I still can’t believe they did that to you...did you end up finding your siblings, by the way?”

Tim tensed up upon recalling those memories. “I did. We’re all together now, and they go here too!”

“That’s awesome.” said Bobby. He must’ve caught on to the shift in Tim’s demeanor, and took it as a sign to change the subject.

“This is my sister Vanessa!” he said, gesturing to the shorter girl next to him. “Don’t think you two ever officially met. She’s easy to miss.”

“Har har.” said Vanessa. She pointed her thumb at Bobby. “Tim, you really dodged a bullet not having this one for a stepbrother.”

“Hey!”

Tim laughed, and for the first time that day, felt like he fit in somewhere.

—

Bobby and Vanessa proceeded to show him the ropes for the rest of the day, telling him which teachers were cool and not so cool and what cliques to avoid if he wanted to have a solid group of friends. Currently, the three of them were in PE walking around the gym together, sprinting here and there to fool the coach into thinking they were jogging.

“..and that’s why you should NEVER show up late on pizza day.” Bobby said.

“Wow...you’re both so incredibly wise!”

“Eh, it’s easy to figure out when you’ve been here so long.” said Vanessa. “What class do you have next, Tim?”

“Algebra I with Mr. Pearson.”

“Hey, us too! We should sit together.”

When the three friends arrived at Algebra I, Tim felt his heart leap as he caught a glimpse of a certain dark curly head. Leo turned to see him as well and offered a smile and a small wave in recognition, making Tim’s face flush ever so slightly pink.

“Tim! We saved you a seat!”

The boy snapped back to the present and went to sit with his friends towards the back corner of the classroom. 

“I’ve heard horror stories about Mr. Pearson.” said Bobby. “Legend has it, this one kid died of stress from his class back in the nineties!”

“Bobby! Don’t scare him like that.” said Vanessa. 

Tim wasn’t the least bit worried about any supposed horror stories regarding teachers. Most of the ones he’d been introduced to today seemed perfectly fine, despite what he knew other students thought of them. He expected this one to be no different. 

“Quiet down, class!”

However, when Tim saw the teacher who’d just walked in, with his small mustache and receding hairline, his blood ran cold.

“Welcome to Algebra I, I’m Mr. Pearson. To begin, I’m going to pass out the syllabus and…” 

The teacher’s next words barely registered with Tim, still reeling from the shock of seeing this man who looked so much like _him._ _Father is **dead**._, he reminded himself. Yet why was he feeling so sick right now? 

“...Willoughby?”

Tim heard his last name called and felt a poke on his arm from Vanessa. 

“Timothy Willoughby?” The teacher queried again.

“H-here!” Tim managed.

The teacher looked at him with an expression that sent pure fear into his heart. Maybe the horror stories weren’t that far off...

Mr. Pearson had everyone open their books and began the lesson, scrawling various numbers and letters on the dry-erase board. Tim did everything in his power to focus and ignore the sick feeling in his stomach, but between his teacher, Leo sitting a mere two rows away, and the fact that algebra was proving to be VERY hard so far, it was not going too great. Since when were there _letters_ in math?

Tim’s nervous fidgeting must have brought attention to the other kids, because now some were staring the way he’d swore they had in the hallways. Then, he heard whispers.

“Ain’t that the kid who escaped juvie back in April?”

“Yeah, I think so…”

“How’d a wimp like THAT land in juvie???” _What?_

“Hey, shut up!” Bobby said, then turned to Tim. “Don’t listen to those idiots.”

**“Who’s disrupting my class?!”**

The entire class fell silent after Mr. Pearson spoke. Tim felt his heartbeat in his ears as the teacher approached where he and Bobby sat.

“I should have expected as much from you, Mr. Willoughby.” 

_**What?** _

“B-but-!”

“No buts!” The teacher was yelling now and suddenly Tim felt the coal dust creep into his throat. The whole class was staring. Leo was staring. No. **_No._**

“Mr. Pearson!” Bobby started. “Tim didn’t-” 

“Be quiet, Mr. Waddington!” The teacher’s tone did not change as he yelled at Bobby. He addressed Tim again.

“I have no choice now but to...”

And that’s when everything went black.

—

Tim was in an unfamiliar room on a chair next to what looked like a doctor’s table. The nurse’s office. A woman, likely the nurse herself, spoke to him gently.

“Tim? Tim, how are you feeling?”

“I’m..what _happened_?”

The previous events flooded back into his mind as the eldest Willoughby came to. Algebra I and Mr. Pearson, and the strange things he’d overheard from the other kids say about him. That word; juvie. He’d heard it somewhere before. Then, it hit him...

_”..ever since mom saw you on TV…”_

_”Tonight, a skinny-boned boy escapes a juvenile detention center. Reports say…”_

_”I should have expected as much from you, Mr. Willoughby.”_

Not only did Tim just black out in front of his whole class, the whole school thought he was some sort of criminal. 

“We called your mom. She’s coming to get you. You’re okay…”

_Was he?_


	12. School, Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm on a roll this week! Enjoy another chapter c:

“This is our house. It’s connected to a factory!”

“Big factory!”

Mrs. Moreno’s second grade class sat in dumbfounded silence as the Barnaby twins described the drawing of their house and family for that classic elementary school icebreaker. Mrs. Moreno herself politely watched, trying not to let the deep concern she felt for these two show on her face as they continued describing how their eccentric family...supposedly, came to be.

“And so papa let us build a dirigible out of candy to fly us to Sveetzerlund-“

“Very nice presentation, you two!” The teacher finally interjected. “But can we let another student go next?”

“Okay.” The twins chorused. Other students continued to stare as they walked back to their desks. When they sat down, another kid had gotten up to present his own drawing. Neither of them could place why, but the boy seemed really familiar...

“Hi, I’m Brandon, and this is my family! My mom, dad, my sister Katie, and our cat, Meringue.”

Upon seeing Brandon’s drawing, it suddenly hit the twins why he’d seemed so familiar. They looked at each other and gasped.

“We moved to our house back in April-“

“THE PERFECT FAMILY!” “You almost bought our house!”

“A! B! Quiet down!” Mrs. Moreno snapped. “Brandon, continue.”

“Thank you Mrs. Moreno.” said Brandon. He looked at the Barnabys. “I have _no idea_ what you’re talking about…”

While his voice sounded innocent and confused to Ms. Moreno, the twins saw what they could only describe as _pure evil_ in the way Brandon looked directly at them. And from the way the other students giggled at their sudden outburst, there’d be much more where that came from.

—

A and B enjoyed school so far. The school part of it, anyway. The assignments were easy and the library was stocked with fascinating new books they’d never seen before. They liked how they got both snack time AND lunchtime, and a recess on the school’s massive playground.

What they hated on the other hand were the whispers and the way nobody seemed to want to sit near them. They hated how nobody but the teacher bothered to use A and B or even just “Barnaby”, instead opting for “those weirdos”, “new kids”, or “mushroom heads” (Only Nanny got to call them that.). They’d been asked if they had souls about three times that day. The ringleader of all this torture? Brandon, who seemed to have it out for them for no good reason.

Things came to a head during snack time. The twins simply wanted to enjoy the vanilla pudding and apple slices Nanny had packed for them, but every attempted bite was interrupted by a balled up piece of paper flung their way from Brandon and his friends at their pushed-together desks.

“So wait, was that house really haunted?” One kid asked Brandon. The Barnabys perked up hearing this.

“Oh yeah, it _was_.” he said. “It was all like ‘I AM THE WILLOUGHBY _BEAST!!_ LEAVE THIS PLACE OR I WILL **_FEAST!!!_** ” Brandon held his hands out like claws as he said this, imitating Nanny’s six-armed costume.

The Barnabys felt livid now. That jerk DID remember almost buying their house.

“So those weirdo new kids lived in a haunted house!”

Barnaby A was turning a shade of red B had never seen him turn before. He crushed his empty juice box as Brandon continued to speak. B was angry too, but even he looked at his brother with a bit of concern...

“I guess that explains why they’re so..”

Brandon’s next word activated a feeling unlike any the twins had felt before. Anger, hurt, and fear bursting forth all at once. Like a timebomb finally going off.

“... ** _creepy._** ”

And that’s how Brandon ended up with a face covered in vanilla pudding from a cup thrown by Barnaby A, whose face was almost as red as his hair with hot, angry tears streaming down. His twin looked on in both astonishment and fear, reaching for A’s inhaler in his pocket as he heard his brother’s shaky breaths. Brandon put on his best fake-crying face and the twins knew immediately what was coming.

_“MRS. MORENO!!!”_

—

After that incident, the twins were given a note to be sent home and signed by a guardian. Since the teacher couldn’t yet tell A from B, they were both forced to spend their recess period against the wall as the other kids played on the sprawling playground, Brandon among them. The Barnabys sat against the brick wall, a line spray painted on the concrete about a foot in front of them, designating the time-out zone.

“This is your fault.” said B.

“My fault? All I did was stick up for us!”

“There’s better ways to stick up for us!”

“You have to admit it was kinda funny, though.”

“You’re insufferable!”

“And you have no spine!”

“I’m not the one who got us _punished_ you-!”

Suddenly, an object came flying towards the two youngest Willoughbys. Upon landing in front of them, the twins identified it as a paper airplane. After looking around for it’s possible source and seeing none, B unfolded the plane and read the note.

 _“Meet us under the oak tree. Don’t worry, she won’t notice.”_

They looked over to Mrs. Moreno and the teacher’s aid, too distracted making sure the kids on the playground behaved to notice if the twins were to sneak off. With curiosity piqued about the source of this note and nothing left to lose, the Barnabys snuck away to the oak tree on the grassy part of the playground.

“Hello?”

Rustling leaves were heard, and suddenly the twins were quite spooked. Was this a joke? Brandon was probably tricking them to get them in even more trouble...

“This is getting weird.” 

“Definitely weird. Let’s goAAA _AHHHH!!!!_ -”

“Barnaby A?!”

Barnaby B looked around frantically for his twin, who seemed to have vanished into thin air. Before he could look any further though, he felt himself lifting off the ground and up into the tree branches, landing with a _thud_ onto what felt like a wooden plank. Next to him was A, currently taking a few puffs of his inhaler after the shock of being suddenly hoisted into a tree by some unknown force.

The twins took in their new surroundings which appeared to be some kind of tree fort. Crude wooden planks mixed with cardboard boxes made up the structure. They saw what looked like a pulley with a large hook attached (presumably what pulled them up) and there were books _everywhere_ , piled in corners, makeshift shelves, and even in the branches. The Barnabys would marvel at the craftsmanship and engineering if they weren’t so freaked out...

More rustling was heard, and two pairs of eyes stuck out from a dark cluster of branches. B trembled, and A grabbed the pointiest looking stick he could find, holding it out in a defensive stance.

“Who are you and what do you want with us?!”

The eyes disappeared, only to have them materialize into two manically grinning, bespectacled kids that emerged from the branches. A boy and a girl around their age, with raven hair and icy blue eyes that were magnified through their glasses. Though clearly different, their faces were identical.

_Twins._

Before either A or B could say anything, the boy pulled out a magnifying glass while the girl held a notebook and pen. The boy looked through the glass at A in an almost comical way while the girl stood beside him, jotting down notes.

“Barnaby A: the impulsive, hotheaded one.” He said. “Often acts and speaks before thinking. Asthmatic. Has a slight slouch.”

“Barnaby B.” The girl started. “The rational one. Often either gets the other one out of trouble or gets into trouble at his expense. Higher pitched voice. In touch with his feminine side.” 

“A classic dynamic!”

“Indeed!”

A and B didn’t know what was scaring them more, the highly accurate personality diagnosis or the fact that these strange twins they’d never met before knew who they were, and could tell them apart in two minutes faster than their sister could in six and a half years. Their accents didn’t help either...it briefly reminded them of their old “parents”. Though these two sounded much less snobby, more youthful and chipper.

“H-..how did you..?”

“It’s all in the way you carry yourself.” said the boy. 

“Little nuances. It’s what makes a strong, well rounded character!” the girl finished. 

“Okay, um..” B started. “Thank you for addressing us as individuals, but..we never did get an answer as to who you _are?_ And why we’re in this tree?”

“It is a _very_ nice tree by the way.” said A, who had wandered over to the pulley-hook mechanism and started playing with it.

“Oh, where are our manners?” said the girl. “Apologies! To be frank we aren’t very good with...people. I’m Margot Bobbsey, and that’s my brother, Sean.”

“A pleasure!”

Barnaby A looked up from the pulley contraption at Margot and Sean. “Bobbsey? Like _The Bobbsey Twins?”_

“A man of taste, you are!” said Sean. “And yeah, we get that a lot.”

“Or at least we did, back in London.” said Margot. Her expression fell. “Now it’s all ‘egghead twins’ and ‘eight eyes’. This fort’s the only place we’re safe from Brandon…”

At that, the Barnabys’ discomfort suddenly turned to sympathy. B walked over to Margot and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“For us it’s ‘mushroom heads’ and ‘weirdo new kids’.” 

“And they’re convinced we’re demons from a haunted house!” A added.

“I’m pretty sure they thought we were ghosts for almost three months last year.” said Sean. “What’s with this ‘twins-equals-monsters’ narrative?”

“I blame the media.” said Margot. “Lest we forget being asked at least ten times per day to say-“

 _“Come play with us, Danny!”_ Chorused all four kids at once. The four of them burst into hysterical laughter.

“Haha, wow...” said B, catching his breath. “You...get it. You really get it.”

“Of course we do! I suppose that’s why we brought you here, yeah?” Margot said. “Birds of a feather and all that.”

“ _Twindred_ spirits, one might say!”

“ _SEAN!_ ” Margot yelled. “Don’t mind him. He’s insufferable sometimes.”

“I thought it was funny.” said A. He and Sean high-fived each other.

“Don’t encourage him!” B and Margot shouted at the same time, with the same hands-on-hips pose. They noticed this and gave each other a knowing smile.

“I see you like books…” B observed. He pulled one off a shelf and flipped through it. His eyes widened. “Woah, hold on...pictures? In color?!” The Bobbseys looked at him quizzically.

“Um...yeah? Have you been living under a rock?”

“Sean, you absolute dodo! Don’t be rude. If my observation is correct, they’ve clearly been sheltered for quite some time.”

“Hehe... _dodo_? I’m stealing that.” said A. He took the colorful book from B and flipped through the pages.

“This is what’s known as a ‘graphic novel’.” Sean explained. “One might think they’re juvenile, but they’re just as engaging as prose! Sometimes moreso.”

“Do you..have any recommendations?” B asked.

Both Bobbseys’ eyes lit up, and they smiled that manic smile yet again.

“We were SO hoping you’d ask…”

The four new friends stayed in the tree fort for the rest of recess, talking about all things books and machinery. The Barnabys showed ways to improve the pulley system while the Bobbseys caught them up on modern literature. They could’ve stayed there for hours if recess didn’t have to end eventually.  
Mrs. Moreno came to get the twins (who’d managed to just barely get back to the wall before she noticed) and directed them to the back of the lineup. She wondered to herself why the two seemed so _content_ despite missing recess, but didn’t pry. 

She also, somehow, didn’t notice the stacks of books they’d tucked under their cardigans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, here's a little funny trivia about Sean and Margot here...
> 
> When I first read the Willoughbys, I didn't know what The Bobbsey Twins series was, and the way they reference it in the book made it sound like, to me, they were talking about some neighbors or something who had ALSO found a baby on their doorstep. So I wanted to adapt these "minor characters" into my fic somehow, resulting in the Barnabys making some new twin friends with the last name Bobbsey who also have an adopted baby sister (you'll meet her later :P)...honestly, it was kind of a happy accident because I love these OCs a lot now! XDD


	13. School, Part 4

“Ready, Jane?”

“Ready!”

Jane’s classmate Melissa tapped the jump rope against her foot as she counted. “One...two...three!” Their two other friends, Nadine and Jessie, started the rhyme.

_“Cinderell-a, dressed in yell-a,  
Ran upstairs to kiss her fell-a,  
Made a mistake and kissed a snake!  
How many doctors did it take?”_

The middle Willoughby thought about how perfect the day had been so far as she jumped. Not only was Mr. Valentine a really nice teacher, and the Junior Drama Club accepting new members, she had BESTIES now! Just like the girls from _Star School_. Maybe tomorrow she’d bring some of that craft thread from Nanny’s boredom box to make friendship bracelets, and maybe soon they’d have a slumber party! Just thinking about the possibilities ahead made her excited. She’d never had _girl_ friends before...

Jane made it about ten jumps before the rope caught on her ankle. She laughed in between breaths and her new friends joined in.

“Betcha can’t beat that!” 

“We’ll see.” said Nadine. She and Jane swapped places and now Jane was holding one end of the skip rope. Before they started, however, some commotion was heard on the other end of the schoolyard. A group of boys appeared to be harassing a girl Jane had seen in their class.

“Who is that?” asked Jane.

“Oh, that’s just Kristy.” said Melissa. 

“This happens like, every recess.” said Jessie. “She kinda does it to herself.”

Jane couldn’t make out what the boys were saying from where they were, but from the way Kristy recoiled and tried to get away, it was clearly nothing good. Jane frowned. It didn’t seem like Kristy was doing _anything_ to herself...

“Maybe we should-”

“I bet it’s cuz of her girl-stache and unibrow!” said Melissa.

Her girl _what?_

Nadine and Jessie giggled at that. And Jane, not knowing what to say in the moment, forced a laugh along with them, pushing down her momentary discomfort to keep the camaraderie she’d formed with her new friends. The girls went quiet, however, when they saw Mr. Valentine approach the boys harassing Kristy.

“ _Oooh_ , they’re gonna get it…” Nadine whispered.

Even from where they stood, the teacher’s yelling sounded...intense. And he wasn’t even yelling at them. The other girls stopped smiling, and Jane felt her heart sink as she saw Kristy shrink in on herself, clearly not wanting _any_ of this attention right now. Mr. Valentine escorted two of the boys inside to the office, and soon after that, ended recess a few minutes early.

—-

“I want to show you all a little something.”

Back in the classroom, Mr. Valentine held up a piece of computer paper for his class to see, then crumpled it. Jane watched, perplexed as to where the teacher was going with this.

“Do you ever notice how when you fold a paper, or if it’s been crumpled or worn like I just did then, no matter how much you flatten it out, it’s never the same?”

Jane and some other students nodded, and the teacher demonstrated his point by rubbing the paper down on an empty desk.

“You can flatten it out and fix it as much as you can, but the creases are always there. That’s also what happens when we say things that hurt people. Any little comment is another crease that will never fully go away.”

The class was silent, with the odd glance thrown towards Kristy at the back of the room. Everyone knew she was what sparked this lecture and the girl shrank back in her seat because of it. Jane and her group weren’t directly involved in her bullying, but the middle Willoughby suddenly felt immense guilt for even _pretending_ to laugh. She felt...exposed. Raw. Like the teacher had called her out on a part of herself she’d tried to forget was there. 

The part that gets brothers sent to the coal bin while she plays with orphans and eats meatloaf...

“Let this be a lesson to you all. Now, open your history books to chapter 1.”

Mr. Valentine’s voice snapped Jane out of her thoughts and she felt the end of a pencil poke her shoulder. She turned to Melissa, who was smiling as if the very serious lecture had never happened. She whispered to Jane.

“Hey, I was thinking we’d all go roller skating this weekend! Whaddya say?”

Jane forced another smile for Melissa, nodding. “I’ll ask my parents.”

And so she pushed that part down again.

—

Class was finally dismissed and Jane bid the girls goodbye before she looked for any sign of Nanny’s car or any of her siblings. Eventually she spotted Nanny waving outside next to the car. Jane got swept up in her hug before getting in the back seat next to the twins, who both had their eyes glued to the books in their laps, she noticed. Another thing she noticed was the absence of her older brother.

“Where’s Tim?”

Nanny turned to Jane with that look of worry in her eyes that she only gets when something’s gone wrong.

“I took him home early. He wasn’t...feeling well.”

Jane was suddenly very worried herself. She looked to the twins.

“Barnabys, how was your day?”

“Fine.” “Perfectly fine.” They spoke flatly.

Neither of them looked at her when they spoke, instead looking at the books which were...were those pictures in _full color_? Jane dismissed that thought for now. Something was clearly wrong. Very wrong.

__

“You guys threw a _pudding cup_ at your classmate?!”

“He started it!” said Barnaby A. 

“He called us...c-...c-....” 

“What? What did he call you?” Linda knelt down to the twins’ level.

Barnaby B shook his head and cast his eyes down to the floor as they welled with tears. Linda opened her arms for the twins and they accepted the embrace. Jane overheard all of this from where she did her homework on the couch. She knew what B was trying to say, and it broke her heart.

“It’s okay. It’s okay if you can’t say it right now. And if this kid keeps bothering you, I’ll have a word with the principal.” Linda soothed, but her tone shifted as she spoke again. “But you’re both still grounded. No factory for the rest of the week.”

The Barnabys seemed _oddly_ nonchalant about their situation as they joined Jane in the living room to read more of their strange new books. Again, neither of them seemed to acknowledge her presence. 

“So, what _are_ those books, anyway?”

Nothing. 

“Any good?”

Silence. 

Jane sighed and put down her homework, deciding to ask Nanny if it was alright to check on Tim. She’d said to give him some space, but Jane was anxious. She needed to talk to her brother.

She needed to tell him how sorry she was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a shorter one! The conclusion to this whole little arc will be up soon c: thank you to everyone who's read and commented so far for your support. You're the reason I write <3


	14. The Ruthless Willoughbys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And here's the finale to the school saga! Thank you everyone for your patience, and I'll assure you ahead of time that it's not the end of the fic quite yet! Just this "book" so to say. Enjoy!

Tim lay in his bed, wearing sweats and reading _A Wrinkle In Time_ , trying to lose himself in an old-fashioned story and not think about the events of the day. 

Nanny had picked him up from school, and they passed by what felt like a million eyes on them on their way out from the nurse’s office. He’d heard more whispers, rumors manifesting about everything from him having a seizure in the middle of class to being sent back to “juvie”. Nanny squeezed his hand tight the entire time in reassurance, and squeezed the rest of him in a hug as soon as they got to the car. 

It wasn’t hard for Tim to talk to her about what triggered his panic attack, he’d woken her up with enough coal bin-related nightmares to be used to it by now. This was different, however, because Nanny had brought up something else on that car ride home.

_”Therapy?”_

_”Yes, Tim.”_

_”Oh no...am I crazy?! Are you sending me to the insane asylum?!?!”_

_”Huh? No! Tim you’re **fine**. Also we’re gonna have a little chat about ableism later…”_

He was afraid she’d be angry, as he often did on impulse, but Nanny seemed...sad. Remorseful, almost.

_“Lots of people go to therapy, especially kids who’ve been in your situation. I’m just...I’m so sorry I didn’t do it sooner…this wouldn’t have happened…”_

Ironically, the story was making it very hard to not think about his day. It was a very good book, but Meg Murray’s situation hit Tim a little too close to home. He too felt like a monster at his school, but there weren’t any mysterious magical ladies about to take him on a life-changing journey. He’d had one of those already, and the story was over. He’d gone from being a James or a Pollyanna to a Meg Murray, and his story was over.

A soft knock was heard on his bedroom door, breaking him out of his concentration. Tim marked the page and put his book to the side.

“Come in?”

He didn’t expect Jane to be on the other side. He’d almost forgotten that his siblings were still at school while he’d been home. He hoped their day had gone a lot better than his...

“How are you feeling?” Jane asked. Tim was taken aback by how serious she sounded. Not that his sister never had concern for his well being, but she’d never been one to directly acknowledge the negative. Jane Willoughby wasn’t a worrywart like him.

“Better.”

“That’s good…” Jane hesitated for a moment and spoke again. “Can we talk? If not, that’s okay…”

This was getting strange now. Jane rarely asked permission for little things like that, nevermind respect his boundaries. 

“Yeah. What is it?”

Jane sat down next to Tim on his bed, and thought for a moment about the right words to say. She’d start to talk, then stop herself, lip trembling as if she were on the brink of tears.

“I’m-...do you ever notice how...when you fold a paper, or crumple it up, all the little creases…”

Now Tim was even more confused.

“No matter how much you smooth it out it’s never...” Jane sounded like she was choking up now.

“What are you talking about?”

 _“IT’S ALL MY FAULT!”_

Jane’s sudden outburst gave way to sobs and Tim suddenly found himself holding her.

“I’m...Jane, _what_ is your fault?”

“Today you...Nanny told me what happened and how the teacher yelled at you and…” Jane stopped to wipe her eyes. “Our parents _hurt_ you! They hurt you...when it should’ve been me…”

“Jane…”

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry I was such a bad sister...if I’d only been the one sent to the coal bin even just ONCE you wouldn’t be-“

Jane was interrupted by Tim pulling her into his arms, hugging her tighter than he ever had before.

“Don’t you **_ever_** say that.”

“But Tim-“

“And don’t ever say you’re a bad sister, either.”

Now Tim was also tearing up, because part of him -that selfish, bossy big brother part of him- really needed to hear Jane’s apology, and another part of him wished she didn’t have to. He wished none of his siblings had to think about any part of their past, but it was a part of them. It got them where they are now and still impacted their day-to-day lives.

“But I _was_...and I am. I never thought about how you felt and I’m _sorry_...”

“Well, you thought about it now, didn’t you?”

Jane pulled back and blinked like she’d realized something just then, then looked back up at Tim.

“I don’t think a bad sister would have the heart to do that.” Tim continued, brushing back a piece of hair that came loose from Jane’s braid. “They hurt me, yeah, but it would’ve _destroyed_ me if they’d hurt you or the twins…”

Jane looked at her brother; the one who raised her, who _protected_ her that she took for granted all these years and now so desperately wished she could make it up to him somehow. She wasn’t there for him then, but she’d be there now. Forever.

“You did so much for us.” she started. “I just wanna do the same for you now.”

The two siblings stayed like that for a few minutes, with Tim’s arms around Jane as she calmed down. He’d honestly needed this after having such a bad day.

“So, how was school anyway?” Tim asked, a happier tone to his voice in contrast to the emotional conversation minutes prior. “Did you get any of those ‘besties’ you wanted?”

“Um, yeah, it was...it was great.” Jane didn’t want to think so hard about her ‘friends’ right now. She’d deal with it tomorrow.

“What about the twins?”

“Not that good, it seems.” Jane didn’t want to mention the note for fear that Tim might lecture the twins about how ‘Willoughbys don’t start fights’ or what have you. “They’ve been acting a little… _weird_ since we got home.”

“They’re always weird…”

“You oughta stop that, y’know.” Jane snapped, thinking back to how B had described their bully calling them names. “I don’t think they like being called weird. Or creepy. Or anything like that…”

Tim felt a pang of guilt. The Barnabys were growing into their own little people now and it was about time they treated them as such. 

“You’re right.”

Back downstairs, the twins were still engrossed in their pile of books they’d acquired from the Bobbseys. B sat upright on the couch, one hand flipping pages and the other on his face as if he were in deep thought. While A swung upside-down from the edge, and appeared to be holding back hysterical laughter. 

“Hey B...B, you have _got_ to read this…” 

B looked up from his own book to glance over at A’s; a brightly illustrated cover which read _The Adventures Of Captain Underpants_.

“I’ll pass for now.”

“Your loss!”

They heard footsteps come down the stairs and soon after that Tim and Jane appeared in the living room.

“Hey twi- Hey, A. Hey B. How’s it going?” Tim asked.

The Barnabys perked up just a little bit when they saw Tim was finally out of his room, but immediately turned away again. Tim and Jane sat at opposite ends of the couch, the twins in between them.

“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to,” Jane started. “But...you know you can always talk to us, right?”

B put down his book, turned to Jane and finally spoke after a moment’s hesitation.

“They couldn’t tell us apart.” he said. “Nobody even tried.”

“Except for our new twin friends we met in a tree.” Barnaby A added.

Jane opted to ignore the weirdness of A’s statement for now and placed a hand on B’s shoulder. “That’s awful.”

“ _You_ could hardly tell us apart this morning!” B snapped, shoving Jane’s hand away. “And you’re our _sister_.”

“I know.” Jane said, a look of shame crossing her features. “I’m sorry.” 

“We’re sorry if we’ve ever hurt your feelings.” Tim said.

Jane glanced over at A’s book in his hands and giggled at the cover, as well as at A’s very uncomfortable-looking couch position.

“A, you’re so silly, you know?”

This caused the twin to look at her in surprise. _Did she just guess right the first time?_

“I’m...what?”

“Silly! And I mean that in a good way. You make me laugh, like this morning when you blew your morning breath in B’s face and that time I caught you playing peek-a-boo with Ruth-”

“You caught _nothing_!”

“And B,” Jane continued. “You’re funny too but in like, a different way? You have a sharp wit.”

“You have what grown-ups might call an ‘old soul’.” Tim said. “Which isn’t as bad as it sounds! Just means that you’re mature and responsible for your age.”

B appeared to revel in that particular compliment while A made a face as if to say _“and I’m NOT mature?”_ B laughed at this and the others soon joined him. The twins seemed much more relaxed now as each of them leaned on the arm of one of their older siblings.

“So...we’re not just the creepy twins anymore?” B asked.

“No. You never were.” said Tim.

“And don’t let the kids at school tell you otherwise, okay?” said Jane, booping B’s nose for emphasis. He laughed and flinched away.

“Agh! We’re not _babies_ anymore!” he shouted, though clearly in jest. “But...thank you.”

The four siblings sat like that on the couch for a long time, simply enjoying the comforting presence of one another. Meanwhile, Linda had been peeking into the living room at this scene, smiling at the wholesomeness of it all. Behind her, Melanoff tapped her shoulder.

“Are you still gonna tell them the story?” he whispered.  
“No, not tonight.” said Linda. “That’d just kill the mood.”

“But you _should_ tell them eventually.”

“I know.”

—

Getting up for their second day of school on Monday was much more difficult than the first. None of them really wanted to, but the Willoughbys needed to face the day ahead. It helped that Tim was to start seeing the school psychiatrist that day and he was switching out of Mr. Pearson’s class effective immediately, but it was nonetheless scary as ever.

Hesitantly, the four siblings entered the courtyard. They were met with stares and side-eyes, but powered through. No less than two minutes after their arrival, Tim was greeted by two familiar faces running his way.

“Tim! Ohmigod Tim how’re you feeling?!” Vanessa asked.

“You don’t have to worry about Pearson, by the way.” said Bobby. Vanessa nudged her foster brother with her elbow.

“Yeah, Bobby here took the detention in your place!”

Tim didn’t know what to say. Bobby took a punishment for _him_? The laughing stock of the sixth grade?

“You mean you guys don’t...hate me?”

“What? Dude, we’re your friends!” 

“Even though it was only for like three days, you were still our brother once.” Bobby smiled reassuringly. “And mom says you’re welcome at our house anytime.”

The Waddington siblings looked past Tim to see the three other Willoughby kids behind him, looking confused as to how these two seemingly random kids knew their brother.

“Oh!” Tim turned to his siblings to introduce them. “Jane, A, B, this is Bobby and Vanessa Waddington, two of my old foster siblings. And friends!”

Vanessa looked down at the Barnabys, with her hands on either side of her face. “Oh my gosh... you guys are so _adorable_!”

The twins blushed at the compliment and shyly smiled back. ‘Adorable’ wasn’t a word they really equated with themselves, but it was better than certain other words they’d had thrown their way.

“ _Oi!_ A and B!”

The twins turned to the voice calling their names and beamed when they saw who it was.

“Sean!” “Margot!” The two sets of twins greeted each other with hugs, and the Barnabys got their borrowed books out of their bags to return. Tim and Jane looked down at them.

“Are these the tree friends you were talking about?” Jane asked.

Sean and Margot looked up at the two older Willoughbys and put on their signature unnerving smiles. Their icy eyes seemed to dig directly into Tim and Jane’s souls…

“Tim and Jane! We’ve heard about you.” 

“Tim; the awkward, neurotic big brother. Greatness complex. Facial hair envy.”

“Jane; the impulsive and optimistic middle sister. Has a foolishly rosy view of the world-”

“ _Guys_!” B interrupted. “What did we say about character analyses?”

“Not on the first impression, right.” Margot sighed. “Apologies! I’m Margot, that’s my brother Sean.”

“A pleasure!”

Jane and Tim waved awkwardly, still a bit shaken at the personality dissection.

The siblings, friends, and friends of siblings mingled for a few minutes, and Jane found herself feeling quite out of the loop. That is, until…

“Jane!”

She’d nearly forgotten about Melissa and the others, and hadn’t even bothered to ask about roller skating yesterday. Jane hoped she’d understand...maybe.

“Girl, what’s up?” 

“Oh, um…”

“Nadine and Jessie’s parents said they could go to Roller Land and I-”

Melissa, Jessie, and Nadine looked past Jane to where her brothers and their friends were. Melissa made a face.

“Isn’t that the juvie kid?”

Tim heard this and turned around. He whispered to Bobby. “How does _she_ know that?”

“Word spreads FAST at Lowry…”

“And those are the creepy twins from Moreno’s class!” Jessie added.

The Barnabys flinched, and Sean held A’s arm so as to curb his anger. 

Jane looked to her friends, or ‘friends’ rather, with a look of confusion and anger. “Uh, yeah, they’re my **_brothers_**.”

Melissa looked taken aback at Jane’s tone, then smirked. “Aw, honey…”

**_“What?”_ **

“You know you don’t HAVE to hover around your family twenty-four-seven. Especially when they’re, y’know, the local _freaks_...just come with us and we can-”

**“No.”**

Rage. The most rage Jane had ever felt in her entire life built up inside her. 

“I’m sorry…’no’?” said Melissa.

“You heard me! I don’t _want_ to go with you _anywhere_. First Kristy, and now you’re making fun of my **family**? What do you get from this?! Why are you all so **mean**?!?!”

The others watched on in awe as Jane tore into her classmates. Tim and the Barnabys in particular were _terrified_ , having never seen their sister get like that before.

“Jane, you’re making a huge mista-”

“Get away from us. _Now._ ”

The three girls stepped back, Nadine and Jessie practically running away as Melissa stayed, and said one last thing to Jane.

“You’re **_ruthless_** , Willoughbys!”  
And she too ran away.

Jane caught her breath as she calmed down, and Tim approached her with caution.

“Jane? Jane are you okay?”

“Yeah…”

“Jeez, I’f I’d yelled at some of my fourth grade friends like that, I’d have saved _so_ much grief in the years to follow…” Vanessa mused.

“Inner rage.” “Zero shame.” said Sean and Margot respectively.

“You just lost your friends for _us_.” said B. “And now your class is gonna know we’re related..” A followed.

“They weren’t my friends.” said Jane. She hugged Tim and motioned for the twins to join in. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Once again, their embrace was quickly disbanded by the sound of the bell. 

“You sure you’ll be alright?” Tim asked.

“I think I will.” said Jane. “I think we all will.”

They were the Ruthless Willoughbys, after all.

——

After waving goodbye to Bobby and Vanessa, Tim made his way to his locker. Once he got the books and materials he needed for the next three hours, he heard another familiar voice call his name.

“Hey Tim!”

The eldest Willoughby turned around to see none other than Leo. Tim’s face grew hot and he nearly dropped his books.

“H-hi Leo!”

“I’m glad to see you’re okay.”

_He was?_

“Y’know, I was thinking…” Leo started. “I did my book report on _A Wrinkle In Time_ too and...do you wanna come over some time? I could give you some pointers.”

Was he dreaming right now? 

“Come over?”

“Yeah! My parents own a cafe right below our apartment. We could do homework there and I could sneak us some pastries! Y’know, if you wanna, that is…”

Tim thought he might faint again as Leo spoke, but surprised himself by answering him with more than two words for once.

“I’ll ask my parents!”

“Cool! So, we’ll be in touch then?”

Tim nodded, momentary confidence giving way to butterflies yet again.

“Awesome. I’ll see you at English class!”

The two boys parted ways and Tim continued on his way to homeroom, whispering a small “Yes!” to himself and fist pumping with his free hand, and not bothering to hide the big, goofy grin on his face.

Maybe the story wasn’t quite over yet.


	15. Drama Club

Jane made her way to the school auditorium after class was dismissed for the day. Today was the very first meeting of Lowry’s junior drama club, and after her first failed attempt at making friends, Jane was excited to see if her _Star School_ dreams could still be a reality.

The past couple days hadn’t been _great_ , but thankfully other kids weren’t teasing her as much as she thought they might. In fact, they mostly avoided her...which probably wasn’t that great either, but was far better than the alternative in her opinion. Besides, in drama club she’d have the chance to win them all over with her singing voice! It had been awhile since she sang, probably the longest time, in fact, and she’d been itching to get back into any sort of musical hobby.

Jane pushed through the large double doors of the auditorium, where she was met by rows of seats and a MASSIVE stage. Upon said stage, other students sat along the edge, played with props, and mingled with one another. As Jane got closer, she caught sight of one kid in particular and her heart nearly stopped.

_Kristy._

The wavy brown-haired girl sat at the end of the stage least populated by others, feet swinging over the edge and sneaking glances at her phone. (Or whatever that electronic device in her hands was. Jane admitted she had trouble remembering them all sometimes…) It had been easy for Jane to avoid her in class after the incident last Friday, but now she’d be faced with her every week in drama club. Jane was better than Melissa. She knew what she had to do.

Jane approached the side of the stage Kristy sat on and hoisted herself up next to her. She looked down at her hands as she thought of her next words, then spoke.

“Hey Kristy!”

No response.

“I, um, didn’t know you were into theater!”

Kristy still hadn’t noticed she was there. Jane sighed.

“I’m really sorry about what happened last week. My friends and- well, _I_ saw what was happening and didn’t do anything! That was stupid of me, and I hope we can-“

Kristy glanced over at Jane and reached for something in her...hair? Oh! Her ear. She pulled out a small plastic...thing connected to a wire. Muffled noise came from the little purple thing.

“Oh, hey...did you say something?”

Before Jane could ask any questions or re-apologize after Kristy apparently hadn’t heard her, the drama instructor arrived and silenced the group by clapping twice.

“Settle down now, everyone!”

The group of fourth, fifth, and sixth graders left the stage and sat in the first two rows of seats at the teacher’s request. The older woman paced in front of them with as much dramatic flare as you’d expect from, well, a drama teacher, and spoke with even more.

“Welcome, my young stars, to the junior drama club! I’m Ms. Dreschner, and I’ll be your director for this year’s junior musical: _The Little Mermaid_.”

Excited murmurs were heard from the group at the announcement, and Jane herself could hardly contain her own. The role of Ariel was MADE for her. She had the voice, the red hair...it was meant to be! She just knew it…

“Before we get into that, however, our first few meetings will be all about acting exercises and finding your individual strengths! A lot goes into producing a play; actors, musicians, stage crew, you get it! So today, we’ll start with a little introduction…”

Ms. Dreschner handed packets to the students at one end of the row and they passed them down. Each packet had a list of monologues and songs, respectively.

“I’d like each of you to perform something from the lists in front of you, either a scene or a song, so we can get a sense of how you perform! If you can think of something outside the list, feel free to use that if you’d like. Nothing obscene, please!”

Jane didn’t even need the list. She knew EXACTLY what to do!

About a half hour passed as kid after kid either eased or stumbled their way through their respective songs and scenes, some good, most mediocre at best. Jane anxiously awaited her turn, and glanced up when she saw it was Kristy’s. She also noticed that Kristy was the first kid so far who hadn’t brought up either of the packets.

“Ah! Kristen Guerra.” Ms. Dreschner said. “Go on, show us what you’ve got!”

Kristy cleared her throat and appeared to be psyching herself up, displaying more confidence than Jane had ever seen from her before. Then, she began to sing.

_“When I was younger I saw my daddy cry, and curse at the wind…”_

If Jane had thought Kristy seemed different up on that stage before, then she was absolutely _transforming_ as she sang. Her voice was deep, smooth and _powerful_. This was not the same Kristy she’d seen get teased at recess, and the other students took notice as well with their stunned silence. Ms. Dreschner looked as if she might cry as Kristy finished the entire song with no slip-ups.

_“...and darling, I’m on my way to believin’.”_

“Wonderful, BEAUTIFUL performance, Kristen!” The teacher exclaimed as she clapped. Jane and the rest of the class clapped as well. “I see big potential for you this year and for every year to come!”

“Thank you.”

Kristy made her way back to her seat and shrank back the way she did in class, as if the stunning performance hadn’t even happened. 

“Jane Willoughby, are you ready for us?”

“I am!” Jane exclaimed, and eagerly made her way onto the stage, no packet needed because her song was on the inside. She stepped into the center of the stage, looked out at her peers and-

Wow, that was a LOT of seats…

“I-um, I’ll be singing a song I wrote myself!”

“Oh how wonderful, Jane! Whenever you’re ready.”

Jane wanted to start then, but found herself suddenly...very dizzy. Were all these seats usually full when a play was held? Jane looked down at her peers’ eyes on her and imagined a million more looking directly at her.

 _“Th-..Through the glass…”_ Jane’s voice cracked and she started over again, and again…

Why was it so hot in here?

 _“L-looking for something…”_ she heard some kids giggle and suddenly couldn’t go on anymore. “I’m sorry!”

“That’s quite alright, dear!” Ms. Dreschner said. “We can try again next week if you’d like.”

“Thank you.”

Jane sprinted back to her seat. What just _happened_? She was supposed to win everyone over with her singing, and couldn’t even do just that. More importantly, how would she ever get to be Ariel now? Murmurs were heard among the group of students.

_”Wow, get a load of Calamity Jane over there.”_

_“And **she’s** related to that criminal kid and those two crazy twins?”_

Jane overheard the other kids as they laughed, and shriveled down in her seat not unlike Kristy. So much for not getting teased…

__

After the drama club was dismissed, Jane waited for Nanny to come pick her up. She sat outside on a bench in the courtyard and thought about the events of that afternoon. There was no way she’d actually QUIT the drama club, she wanted the lead role too much for that now, but these meetings were going to be hard. She’d do anything to get over this stage fright, and be known for something other than being a Ruthless Willoughby...

Out of the corner of her eye, Jane saw someone else take a seat at the bench next to her, and she knew who it was immediately.

“Hey, Jane.”

“Oh, hi Kristy!”

“Waiting for your ride?”

“Yeah.”

“Same here…”

An awkward silence followed for a moment before Jane spoke again.

“I tried to tell you earlier, but I’m really sorry I didn’t do anything to help you on Friday! I was right there and should’ve…”

“Oh, please don’t worry about it!” Kristy said. “That was honestly just another Friday for me. I’m over it.” She pulled out the device from earlier and pressed some buttons on it. “Besides, I heard you stood up to _Melissa_ not long ago. Gotta admire that.”

“Oh, um, thanks?” Jane said, taken aback slightly at how nonchalant Kristy was about the whole thing. “You were AMAZING today, by the way!”

Kristy smiled. “Thank you! I’ve been practicing all summer. Also learning guitar.”

“Wow, that’s so cool!” said Jane. “I used to practice instruments, and I sing. Though, today wasn’t a good day for me…”

“I get it! We all get stage fright.” said Kristy. “Are you excited for the play? I wanna play Ursula _so_ bad!”

“You mean you _want_ to play the villain?”

“Yeah! Villains get all the coolest songs and costumes.”

Jane thought for a moment about Kristy’s powerful voice doing _Poor Unfortunate Souls_ , and agreed that yes, she’d be perfect in that role.

“I think you’d make a perfect Ariel yourself.” Kristy said. 

Jane smiled and blushed. She glanced down at the device in Kristy’s hands as she stuck one of the purple things in her ear again.

“What’s that?”

Kristy looked at Jane and cocked an eyebrow. “Um, my MP3 player? Have you ever seen one before?”

“I was...homeschooled.”

“Ah, classic sheltering, I see.” Kristy took one of the other purple things and handed it to Jane. “It plays music I download onto it! Mom won’t let me have a real phone or Spotify yet, so this is what I use.”

Jane didn’t know what some of those words meant, but stuck the purple thing in her ear as she’d seen Kristy do. In that instant, her right ear was assaulted by an aggressive guitar and sharp vocals.

_”Well if you wanted honesty, that’s all you had to say…”_

Jane had been slowly exploring modern genres and had heard some classic rock before, but mainly preferred pop and showtunes. This however, was something she hadn’t heard before, and not the kind of music she’d have associated with shy, quiet Kristy. With all she’d seen of her today, Jane supposed now she wasn’t everything she seemed.

“What _is_ this?”

“It’s called...pop punk.” 

“...Can you show me more?”

Kristy smiled a devious smile that was once again something Jane wouldn’t have expected. “Absolutely.”

Sure, it wasn’t exactly episode 1 of _Star School_ , but Jane could sense the beginning of something even better.


	16. The Study Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've been on such a writing roll this week omg! After this one though, I might take a little break to re-charge. I hope you don't mind, especially after this rollercoaster of a chapter I've got for ya...
> 
> Enjoy!

“You guys notice anything… _funny_ about Tim lately?” Jane whispered to the Barnabys at their end of the kitchen table.

At the other end sat Tim, who seemed unusually chipper for a Monday morning, and for Tim Willoughby in general. He stirred his oats as he smiled dreamily at nothing in particular, and didn’t seem to hear or acknowledge Jane’s observation.

“He combed his hair with exactly one-hundred strokes this morning.” said B. “That’s fifty more than usual.”

“I found his library receipt the other day.” said A. “All young adult romance, plus a book about boosting self confidence.”

When Tim finally excused himself, Jane not-so-discreetly wandered over to his seat where his backpack hung on the chair. She suddenly didn’t need to do any snooping, however, when she glanced down at his bowl of oats.

“ _Oh._ ”

She held up the contents of the bowl so the twins could also see the heart shape carved into the room-temperature oats. All three younger Willoughbys gasped at their shared realization.

“A, B, do you know what this means?”

The three Willoughbys smiled a devious smile only younger siblings were capable of.

“Commence _Operation: Pester Our Brother to No End?”_

“You know it.”

—

Tim felt wonderful. Amazing. The most amazing he’d ever felt since starting school. The stares disappeared and the rumors didn’t matter because he was walking on clouds and everything felt _right_ for once. 

He was finally going to Leo’s place to work on his book report that afternoon, and said place was also a cafe apparently? Either way, Tim’s mind flooded with daydreams and the butterflies got more and more intense as the day passed by much too slow. Eventually he was at lunch and was alerted by Vanessa snapping a finger next to his ear.

“ _Hello?_ Earth to Willoughby?”

“Tim, you’ve been spaced out like all day. What’s up?” Bobby asked.

“Nothing is upward! Why would you say that???” Tim said, unconvincingly so, as his eyes wandered back to the table where Leo sat. Vanessa noticed this and seated herself next to Tim, getting her head close to his and looking through her thumbs and index fingers she’d formed into a square.

“ _Ooooh,_ Leo Belmonte, huh? Bobby, methinks our boy here has it bad!”

“ _Vanessa!_ “ Tim flushed bright red and buried his face in his hands. “I do _not_.”

“That’s the tone of someone who most certainly has it bad.” 

Given that he was pretty much already found out, Tim relented. “Okay, fine...maybe I have it bad…” His expression grew worried. “You’re not...weird about that, are you?”

“Heck no! Mom taught us better than that. You’re good, man.” Bobby said, then pointed to his stepsister. “Nessa here’s been pining over Natalie Douglas since second grade.“

“ **Bobby!** ”

“You have though!” Bobby said between laughs. Vanessa grew bright red herself, and Tim felt a little more at ease.

“Promise you won’t say anything?”

“You have our word, Tim.” said Vanessa. “But don’t think you’re gonna escape our good-natured friend teasing. Welcome to middle school.”

The last bell finally rang and Tim eagerly waited outside by the school’s sign in the grass, as instructed to him by Leo via texts on his (basic, for emergencies and allotted friend-texting only) phone Nanny had gotten for him. Nanny also told him to text her the address of Leo’s place when he got there, so she could pick him up before dinner.

The anticipation made him feel almost sick. On one hand this was the stuff of his daydreams but on the other...so much could go wrong. What if something triggered his PTSD (which he’d learned was what he had from his therapist) again and Leo didn’t want to see him anymore? In fact, he often wondered why Leo even _wanted_ to hang out with him after that. Wasn’t he the juvie kid? A ruthless Willoughby whose hair was so red because he’s full of rage? (The student body’s words, not his.) Tim KNEW he wasn’t that kid everyone made him out to be, but no one else besides Bobby and Vanessa ever bothered to learn that. Why would Leo?

“Heya Tim!”

Hearing Leo’s voice and seeing the boy approach him finally brought Tim out of his nervous thoughts, the sick-inducing butterflies turning back to the dreamy ones when he saw his friendly smile.

“Hi Leo.”

“Shall we get going?”

Tim nodded, and the two of them began walking, making idle conversation about English reading assignments and funny school happenings. Tim found himself becoming more and more at ease as they spoke, despite the fluttering in his chest. Eventually, they reached somewhere Tim hadn’t been before; the subway station. 

“Oh! Are we..?”

“Yeah! This is how I get home every day. Mom and dad can’t get me because of the cafe, and the bus doesn’t go my way.” Leo said, then pulled out his own phone. “Speaking of which...ugh, you’re gonna think I’m so lame, but mom would kill me if I didn’t…”

He scrolled through the numbers and dialed one as the two made their way into the station. Holding the phone to his ear, Leo spoke. “Hi mama, we’re making our way to the train right now.”

They entered and Leo tapped a card on the gate, which opened for him. Tim made a surprised expression as if to tell Leo he had no money on him, but Leo handed his card to him. 

“It’s on me!” he said, then turned back to the phone. “Yes mama, we’re fine…”

Tim found it hard to keep his balance on the crowded train as he held tightly onto the hanging strap. He’d never been on the subway before, but Leo seemed to be used to it as he kept completely steady with one hand holding the strap and the other still on his phone. He spoke to his mom the entire time, catching her up on his day and assuring her that he and his new friend were safe. 

Eventually they reached their stop, and ascended a flight of concrete stairs to get back to the street. Right at the street corner they found themselves at was a fancy-looking cafe, whose sign read _Belmonte’s Italian Bakery_.

“Okay, we’re here. Talk to you soon- okay, yeah! I know! Love you too, mama.” Leo finally hung up the phone and turned back to Tim. “Sorry about that!”

“It’s fine! Your mother must really care about you.”  
“Haha, yeah, I guess…” Leo said, rubbing the back of his neck. “C’mon, let’s go before all the day old pastries are gone!”

The bell above the door rang as they entered the little cafe, where Leo was immediately greeted by a stout man with a mustache, dressed in an apron and little white hat.

“Leo! Good, good, you made it home in one piece. I had to stop your mother from calling 911...again. How was school?”

“Good!” Leo said, then gestured towards Tim. “Papa, this is Tim, my friend I told you about! Can we do homework down here? And maybe have some snacks?”

“Of course! Today’s been quite slow, anyway. Tim, why don’t you choose something from the case if you’d like, it’s on me!”

“Oh, thank you, Mr. Belmonte! But I couldn’t-”

“Nonsense! Any friend of my son is more than welcome here. And please, call me Dino!”

Tim walked around to look at all the neatly arranged pastries as Leo and his father talked. There were so many he didn’t know quite what to pick. He was about to ask for a recommendation before his eye caught another case full of vats of what looked like ice cream.

“Woah,” Tim said. “You sell ice cream here? In autumn?”

“Gelato, actually!” Leo said, stepping behind the counter where the vats were. “It’s like an Italian ice cream. Want a sample?” 

Tim nodded and pointed to a bright blue flavor labeled ‘blue vanilla’, and Leo handed him a tiny plastic spoonful. It was _good_. Like ice cream, but enhanced somehow. Tim smiled in approval, and Leo mirrored him. 

After choosing their after school treats, Leo and Tim sat down at one of the tables to start their homework. Tim opted to save his math homework for last, as even his new remedial class was proving to be difficult, and he wanted to put it off as long as possible. All the while they sat there, Tim snuck brief glances at Leo when he wasn’t looking. His heart fluttered all over again as he noticed the mole under his right eye, and the way Leo stuck his tongue out a little while working on a difficult math equation. Ugh, he was so _cute_.

Eventually they were swapping their notes on _A Wrinkle In Time_. Leo caught some details Tim hadn’t, and he wrote them down in his own reading journal. (“Word it differently so the teacher won’t notice.” he’d advised.)

“What’s your thesis going to be?” Leo asked.  
“Um, so I was thinking about doing something on Meg Murray as a character,” Tim started. “How even years later, a lot of kids can relate to her struggles of feeling...not good enough. Whether through their looks, or their intelligence, or just the way people see them...” He trailed off a little as he spoke.

“That’s really interesting! And you’re totally right.” Leo stirred the half-melted gelato in his cup. “I know I can relate.”

Tim looked at Leo with surprise. _He could?_

“My mom’s a real perfectionist, always expecting good grades from me, and not letting me get in even the slightest bit of trouble. I love her, don’t get me wrong! But it’s a little restrictive and sometimes...weird. She won’t even let me have- oh, please don’t laugh…”

Tim smiled reassuringly. “I won’t, promise!”

Leo glanced around the cafe to make sure Dino was out of earshot and that his mother hadn’t come downstairs yet, then whispered. 

“She won’t let me have Lickety Twists.”

Tim nearly choked on his gelato spoon at those words. Lickety Twists? As in _Melanoff’s_ Lickety Twists?

“Why is that?”

“I don’t know! She says they’re terribly unhealthy but still lets me have all the gelato and cannolis I want…” Leo said. “That’s weird right? I mean, what kid has never tried a Lickety Twist?”

“Not really.” said Tim. “Actually, I’d never had one myself until earlier this year!”

“Haha, right. You were living that homeschool life, huh? No offense…”

“None taken.” Tim had certainly lived a home _something_ life, after all…

Tim couldn’t believe how honest Leo was being with him right now, _him_ of all people. It made him bold enough to ask something that had been on his mind all day.

“Hey Leo?”

“Hm?”

“Why did you wanna hang out with me? I mean, I’m the least popular kid in the whole school and everyone’s afraid of me!”

Leo furrowed his brows empathetically, and smiled. “I’m not afraid of you, and no one at school knows what they’re talking about!” his expression softened and his face flushed slightly pink. “If I’m being totally honest, I-”

 ** _“LEO DEARIEEE!!!”_**

A heavily accented voice Tim couldn’t quite identify boomed through the whole cafe. A woman emerged carrying a tray of pastries, and the first thing Tim noticed was how PINK she was. Pink and wearing a large puffy dress that probably wasn’t appropriate cafe attire. She had something oddly… _familiar_ about her…

“Oh I’m so sorry my little cupcake! I was slaving away at these pasticciotti all day long!” The woman scooped Leo up into a highly embarrassing hug.

“ _Mama!_ Not in front of my friend!”

Tim glanced down at his phone and saw a text Nanny had sent not long ago, likely to let him know she was here or on her way. The actual text however sent dread into his heart…

**Nanny: Mel wanted to give me a break from running around today! He’s on his way there.**

Before Tim even had time to panic, the little bell above the cafe door rang, and in stepped Commander Melanoff himself.

“Tim my boy! Ready to get going? Nanny’s making meatloaf for-”

The whole place fell silent as Melanoff and Leo’s mother locked eyes. The pink-clad lady set her son down from the hug, and glared in a way that shouldn’t have been as scary as it was given her appearance.

“Melanoff…” she spoke coldly. Melanoff looked at her just as coldly.

“Hello, _Ruth_ …”

_Ruth???_

“Woah woah wait…” said Leo. “Tim, Commander Melanoff is your **_dad?!?!_**

Tim looked back at Leo, smiling nervously and shrugged as if to say ‘...surprise?’?

Melanoff looked at Tim, then Leo, and then at their empty gelato cups. Putting two and two together, he grabbed Tim by the arm.

“Tim, let’s go.”

“But-”

“Let’s _go_.”

Tim hadn’t heard Melanoff speak that way since the day they met, and it sent chills down his spine. He turned back to see Leo also being led up the stairs by his mother. 

The ride home was tense, though Melanoff didn’t seem mad at Tim directly. He knew better than to be too harsh with the boy. He did, however, spend the whole ride muttering angry nonsense about “ _gelato_ ” and “sweetie”. Tim didn’t dare pester him any further, but was nonetheless confused about the whole situation…

When they finally reached the factory, Melanoff sighed and turned to his adoptive son.

“Do me a favor, Tim, and be wary of that Belmonte kid.” His serious tone once again caught Tim off guard. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

_How could Leo ever hurt him?_

__

Jane and the Barnabys were all set to pester like they’d never pestered before. They had found the notebooks full of ‘Sir Leo Willoughby’ written in cursive and the love letter puzzles he’d been practicing in secret. Now all they needed was for Tim to walk through the door, which he did right on cue.

“So how was the _date_ , lover boy?” Jane asked as Tim walked by. However, he didn’t respond.

“Uh, hey Tim? We’re trying to embarrass you here?” The three of them followed Tim all the way up to his room, where he promptly slammed the door. Jane and the twins stood at the door, puzzled.

“Tweenagers sure are weird...” said A.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: here’s a little context for anyone who may not be super deep into Willoughbys lore 😅 https://youtu.be/SDlL7Q5ggL0


	17. The Mall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We got another long one here folks! Quick warning for the end: there's some brief discussion of abuse and drugs. It gets pretty feelsy for everyone involved but is happy overall!
> 
> Also, I establish a Halloween party coming up...which was supposed to be the chapter going up this weekend but work's been kicking my butt. Hope you don't mind a future Halloween chapter in November :P Anyways, enjoy some tweenage shenanigans!

Vanessa quickly caught on that there was something wrong with Tim. 

She caught him doodling in his notebook during study period; a stylized drawing of himself as a knight in shining armor with a glorious Willoughby mustache and Leo as the prince in need of rescuing. She snatched the notebook and looked deadpan at her friend.

“That’s it, Romeo. Time for an intervention.”

“An inter-what?”

“You gotta get over this, man!”

A shushing from a nearby librarian was heard and Vanessa feigned getting back to work.

“I know, I know!” Tim whispered. “It’s just...everything’s so unfair! First I become this- this _delinquent_ in the eyes of the whole school, and now I’m not even allowed to see one of the few people who actually likes me?! Ugh! I just wanna _scream_ sometimes!”

Another shush. Tim buried his face in his textbook.

“Join the club.” Vanessa responded flatly. She felt for him, don’t get her wrong, but she was experienced with the whole crush thing, as well as the whole ‘parents getting in the way of your life’ thing, and knew wallowing in self-pity didn’t get you anywhere.

Suddenly, Vanessa’s eyes lit up as an idea formed behind them. 

“And you know what we do when the adults in our lives make us wanna scream?”

“What’s that?”

She grinned at Tim, who looked at her concerningly in return.

“We hang with our own.”

—-

On a chilly Saturday afternoon, Tim once again found himself in the back seat of Ms. Waddington’s car, Vanessa next to him on the passenger side and Bobby riding shotgun.

It should have been much more awkward, and should have brought up more bad memories on Tim’s part, but the foster mother’s kind demeanor as well as Vanessa and Bobby’s presence made it less so. This was all part of a plan Vanessa had set into motion in order to cheer him up after what happened at Leo’s house. Said plan was still a mystery to the eldest Willoughby.

“Say Tim,” Ms. Waddington started. “Why don’t you and your family come over for our annual Halloween party in a couple weeks? I’d love to meet your parents and those siblings of yours!”

Tim thought for a moment. He and his siblings had never celebrated Halloween nor been to a party before, but he was sure they’d be open to the new experience. Tim tended to be apprehensive of such things but was getting much better at it, and he trusted the Waddingtons enough now.

“I’ll ask them!”

“Awesome!” said Vanessa. “We put on a real good party every year, not to brag.”

“ _Please_ at least show up so we have someone to hang with besides our little brothers and sister.” said Bobby. “I’m already forced to trick-or-treat with them every year.”

“You do it willingly and we all know that, Bobbert.” said Vanessa, reaching around the front seat to lightly punch her brother in the arm. 

Tim chuckled at their banter, which reminded him of his own family in recent days. Well, some days. It seemed he and his siblings were all gaining friends and lives of their own outside of each other for the first time. Even Jane was supposed to be getting together with her friend Kristy today.

Ms. Waddington dropped the three kids off at a place Tim had only been to a couple times with Nanny; the local shopping mall. He’d never been a fan of the crowds and the errands Nanny would drag him on, so Tim looked at his friends with confusion.

“What are we doing here?”

“Today, my friend, you’re gonna be a _kid_.” said Vanessa. “You’ve been all wound up for too long. Here we’re gonna loosen up, have some fun!”

Vanessa approached Tim and looked him up and down, hands on her hips. “Speaking of loosening up, dude, why are you dressed like we’re going to school?”

Tim looked down at his outfit -his usual short pants, tie, and vest- and then at what his friends wore. It was the first time he’d seen them out of school uniform, both in casual jackets, jeans, and sneakers. Tim owned some stuff like that at home, but often defaulted to his old-fashioned Willoughby clothes without thinking about it. For the longest time he’d thought that’s just how boys his age were _supposed_ to dress.

“It’s also like, forty-five degrees out.” Bobby said. He had a point there, Tim thought, as he felt a chill on his arms and legs.

“I could buy a jacket, but they’re really expensive here…” said Tim. He had an allowance, (plus a little extra Nanny managed to squeeze out of Melanoff as his apology for yanking him from his friend’s house for seemingly no reason) but not nearly enough for the pricey clothes sold at the mall.

“Eternally 17 has a deep discount room!” Vanessa exclaimed. She took Tim’s hand and started heading for the mall entrance. “C’mon, first stop: _budget makeover!_ ”

Tim was anxious as usual, but decided to roll with whatever scheme his friend had in store. If it would help him cheer up a little, he was willing.

The three friends wound up looking at much more than just jackets, and Tim found himself having… _fun_. More fun than he’d ever had while shopping for clothes with Nanny. The deep discount room was full of random clothes and accessories and funny hats the three of them tried on for fun. Vanessa even took pictures on her phone, which Tim even found himself getting into despite his camera shyness.

Eventually Tim found himself standing in front of a full-length mirror in the store, in a new outfit his friends helped him pick; a graphic tee, yellow zip-up hoodie, blue jeans, and a pair of converse-like shoes. (All of it clocking in at a little under twenty dollars) It was so different for him, but looking at himself, he felt a certain surge of self-confidence. It felt _good._

“So whatcha think, bud?” Vanessa asked, leaning on Tim’s shoulder and reaching up to muss up his hair a little.

“I look like...a kid.”

“Exactly.”

Once they were done, the three friends went off to their next destination, an arcade called Pixel Palace. Tim marveled at the strange, black-lit space he found himself in.

“Woah…” 

“This is where the _real_ party is.” said Bobby. He pointed to a nearby game that looked to involve shooting zombies. “C’mon, you versus me!”

They got their quarters and popped them into the game. Tim and Bobby picked up the gun-shaped controllers as the game counted down to begin, and suddenly the zombies were coming from every side of the screen. Tim fumbled with the controls at first, as he wasn’t very experienced with video games in the slightest, but quickly figured out the buttons, and shot a zombie on the screen.

“Woah, nice one!” Bobby said, before he quickly turned his attention back to the red that filled his side of the screen. “Crap! Tim, help me out here!”

Tim rapidly kept pulling the trigger on his controller before the screen told him he was out of amo. _This is just like the Great Willoughby Massacre of 1770!_ He thought. Suddenly, he glanced down at the directions and the command for reloading, and proceeded to destroy every zombie on the screen. 

“Nice aim, Willoughby!” Vanessa said.

Tim alone managed to make it about four levels before he didn’t want to add any more quarters. The arcade had a lot to offer and the friends wound up doing a little of everything; classic cabinets, skeeball, racing games, and even crane games to name a few. Tim also wound up with some tickets which he redeemed for a multi-pen, some candy, and a sheet of mustache-shaped stickers.

“Really? A _pen_?” Vanessa chided.

“I’m gonna use it to draw!” 

Just as they left the arcade, Tim glanced over at a kiosk and saw a familiar head of red hair. It didn’t register to him at first because said hair had been crimped, but one look at the person’s face and Tim knew in an instant.

“ _Jane?!_ ”

Indeed, his sister was at the mall as well, but she looked...different. In addition to the crimped hair, Jane sported a full face of wildly colored makeup and a black t-shirt printed with a graphic of Ariel from _The Little Mermaid_. Jane’s friend Kristy sat by her as well in much darker clothes than the uniform he’d always seen her in, with a similar face of makeup. She was having her own hair straightened at the kiosk. The two girls noticed Tim and waved.

“Tim! Hi!”

“What happened to your face?” He asked, eyes widened at his little sister.

“Oh, you like it? Kristy and I got a bunch of stuff at Clarissa’s and Dark Matter!”

Bobby and Vanessa noticed Jane as well, and Tim could tell they were holding back hysterical laughter.

“Wow, um, Jane...that’s a good look on you!” Vanessa fibbed.

Jane smiled. “Thanks!”

Once Kristy’s hair was finished, she hopped down from her chair. “Jane, you wanna go get boba?”

“Okay.” Jane stepped down from her own chair, looked back to her brother, and shrugged. “I have no idea what boba is but we're gonna go get some! Bye Tim!”

Tim waved goodbye to his sister, still perplexed at what he just saw. Bobby and Vanessa continued giggling.

“Look out Tim, your sister’s turning into a baby emo!” said Bobby.

He wasn’t sure what birds had to do with Jane and Kristy or their unusual clothes but was nonetheless worried...

“Should I be...concerned?”

“Nah.” said Vanessa. “She’ll regret those pictures in, say, five years tops.”

__

Tim, Bobby, and Vanessa proceeded to do everything an unsupervised twelve-year-old might do at the mall, and Tim couldn’t recall feeling this exhilarated since the day his parents left for their deadly vacation. They fooled around in stores like the pop-up Halloween store, (where Vanessa took great joy in scaring Tim with a rubber horse head mask) the toy store, (where they rode bicycles too small for them and clicked “try me” on every obnoxious talking toy in a single aisle) and the big anchor department store (where Bobby and Vanessa showed Tim their favorite rack of jeans they’d hide in as little kids, before an employee scolded them for hiding in said jeans, of course…)

After all that activity, the three friends now sat in the food court, picking off the last of their burgers and fries. Vanessa took one of her last few fries and dipped it in her vanilla shake. Tim made a face.

“Hey, don’t knock it till ya try it!” She said, offering Tim a fry. He shrugged and dipped his fry in the shake as well, then ate it.

“That should _not_ be so good!.”

“Right?!”

“So bud, how’re you feeling?” asked Bobby.

Tim smiled at his friends. “Honestly, this was one of the most fun days I’ve ever had…” 

“Mission accomplished.” said Vanessa, as she and her brother high-fived each other. She briefly glanced up and noticed a mall worker hanging some tree-shaped decorations on one of the support beams.

“Ugh, can you believe that? It’s not even Halloween yet!”

“I know, right?” Bobby agreed.

“Speaking of, though, we do _also_ host a pretty great tree trimming party every year too.” said Vanessa.

“You have a lot of parties.” Tim noted.

“Yeah, it’s kind of our thing!” said Bobby, then he chuckled to himself. “Hey Ness, remember that year you cried because Uncle Avery thought it would be a funny joke to give you actual **coal**?”

Tim froze and Vanessa’s next words faded out for him. 

“Don’t remind me!”

“You were _so_ upset!”

“Well yeah, what kid wouldn’t be? Santa was **punishing** me!”

He tasted coal dust. It was choking him and suddenly the fluorescent mall lights were the piercing light of day he hadn’t seen for hours. _No. Not here. Not now…_

“I’LL BE RIGHT BACK!” Tim shouted as he got up and bolted towards the restrooms. The Waddington siblings were left at their table, concerned and perplexed. When minutes passed and Tim didn’t come back, Bobby decided to investigate.

“Tim?” His voice echoed through the men’s room, but Tim wasn’t in there. Confused, he turned to leave and was met with his sister waiting outside.

“Where is he?”

Vanessa pointed to the door labeled “Family/Unisex” and motioned for him to wait with her.

“Give him a little space.”

The two adoptive siblings waited on the nearby couches until Tim finally emerged, eyes bloodshot and face red like he’d been crying.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Vanessa insisted. She didn’t want him to feel like he’d ruined their day, because he didn’t. “You wanna talk about it?”

Tim didn’t answer right away as the three of them made their way out of the mall. Vanessa called Ms. Waddington to come get them while Bobby had his arm around Tim’s shoulders. He fended off any malicious stares from nearby kids with a glare as if to say ‘leave our friend alone’.

“Can I tell you something?” Tim asked quietly, speaking for the first time in about five minutes.

“Of course.”

“My parents...I-I mean, the ones I had before I was adopted...they were terrible.”

Vanessa turned to look at Tim and furrowed her brows in sympathy.

“They- I’m sorry…” Tim hesitated. He’d never spoken of this with anyone his own age. “They didn’t love us, or feed us...they’d punish us if we tried asking for _anything_. Well, they never actually got to punish my siblings because...I always took the blame.”

Vanessa and Bobby looked more and more horrified as he spoke.

“I was sent to the coal bin more times than I can count, but they were safe. I _had_ to keep them safe…”

Before Tim could break down again he felt a pair of arms around his torso. Bobby also let his arms fall into a hugging motion and soon enough all three friends were in this group embrace in the middle of the mall, weird looks be damned. When they disbanded, Vanessa began to speak in the most serious tone Tim had ever heard from her.

“I got taken from my birth mom when I was six.” she started. “She had a drug problem, and wasn’t fit to take care of me. The details are a blur now but I still remember the day I had to go…” The girl started choking up at her next words. “Last year I got the news that she overdosed and died. I hardly remember her, but...it still hurts, y’know?”

Bobby hesitated for a moment, then also began to speak. “I don't know if you knew already, but...I’m mom’s only biological kid.”

Tim looked surprised at that, as he’d found out recently that Ms. Waddington was aromantic.

“She really wanted kids, and my… _dad_ , not that he really was one...realized he didn’t AFTER I was born. But they stayed together till I was five and…” Bobby hesitated again and took a breath to curb the rage he was feeling at the memory. “I still remember the way he hit her…”

Now Tim was the one looking horrified. _Who would hurt someone like Ms. Waddington?_

“But she got out, and built us a better life.” Bobby continued as he wrapped an arm around his sister. “For all of us.”

Tim looked at his friends and found himself speechless. These kids, these _normal_ kids and even their mom had been through things similar to him. Maybe worse, and they were still happy. They still held parties and went to the mall and they were… _alright_.

“The point is, Tim, you’re not alone here.” Vanessa said. “No matter what, we’ve got your back. That’s the point of having friends, good ones anyway.”

Tim smiled and let off a soft laugh at Vanessa’s usual biting wit. 

“Thank you.”

He was lucky to have found good ones.

—

Meanwhile, back at the Willoughby-Melanoff house, Kristy and Jane had just come back from their own mall outing, still in their wild makeup and sipping boba tea. They walked into the living room where the Barnabys were drawing dirigible plans on the floor. When they looked up at their sister and her friend, their eyes widened in fear.

**_“AHHHH!” “WITCHES!!”_ **

“Barnabys! It’s-“

“STAY BACK EVIL WENCH!”

The twins ran away before Jane could explain herself. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Maaaybe we should’ve gone with a neutral shade…” Kristy said.


	18. Nothing Is Scarier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy a Linda-centric/belated Halloween chapter!

Linda watched as Jane, the Barnabys, and the twins’ friends Sean and Margot rushed ahead, running to house after house in pursuit of candy. Even though they lived in a literal candy factory, Linda was fine with letting the kids get the full Halloween experience they’d never had before. (And Jane was planning to give her candy to Kristy anyway, as her parents were particularly religious and never let her celebrate.) Jane had her hair twirled up with a stripe to resemble the Bride of Frankenstein, the Barnabys were classic sheet ghosts, and the Bobbseys wore makeup, ears, and gloves to make them look like little werewolves.

“Oh, don’t you just _love_ Halloween night?” Margot mused. “The danger and the thrill of it, like a living work of R.L. Stein!”

“Those aren’t scary and you know it.” Sean said. “More like a living work of Alvin Schwartz!”

“Please don’t remind me of those pictures, Sean.” “Please remind him of those pictures, Sean.” Said Barnaby B and A respectively.

Tim hadn’t joined them, instead opting to meet Nanny and his siblings at the Waddington’s house for the party. Melanoff had also chosen to stay home and look after Ruth, as well as hand out candy to any kid who might venture out of the city limits. Linda was a little glad about that, she hated to admit, as things between Tim and his adoptive father were still quite tense...

 _”Mel, are you out of your mind? You scared him half to death with that stunt!”_ She’d told him the day he’d picked Tim up from Leo’s place.

_”You don’t get it, Linda. Sweeti- er, Ruth Belmonte is bad news. I just don’t trust that kid of her’s…”_

_”He’s a_ kid, _Mel. And whatever unresolved baggage you have with that woman is between you and_ her.”

She knew it was just Melanoff’s way of trying to protect their son, but truthfully, the candy maker still had a long way to go when it came to communicating with their children. The living as a recluse for years may have had something to do with it. Still, she hoped to get Mel and Tim to have a conversation sometime very soon, though it was getting harder and harder to get a free moment with the eldest Willoughby these days. She was glad he had friends, but really, Linda wished he were here now, winded from trying to catch up with Jane and the others and getting spooked by animatronic yard decorations like she knew her Skinnybones would...

“Nanny, my legs hurt.” Jane said, snapping Linda out of her thoughts. “And we’re hungry. Can we go to the party now?”

“Sure thing, kiddo.”

Linda walked with the five kids back to the car and they drove to the Waddington residence. Jane rang the doorbell, and a few seconds later they were greeted by Ms. Waddington in a full witch costume.

“Well if it isn’t the Willoughbys and company! Come in, come in.” She said. The kids headed inside while the blonde woman introduced herself to the nanny. “And you must be Tim’s mom. I’m Stacey. So great to finally meet you!”

“Linda. Nice to meet you as well!”

The two women went inside and found that the kids were all gathered by the snack table. Along with Jane, the Barnabys, and the Bobbseys were Stacey’s three younger adopted children, two other twin boys around the Barnabys’ age, Vanessa, Bobby, and Tim. The two older Waddingtons sported a ghostface mask and a hockey mask on the sides of their heads, respectively, and Tim wore a vampire cape as well as…

“Tim, what’s going on with your teeth?!” Jane asked.

“The Halloween store had these fake fangs like the ones they use in movies! Don’t they look real?” 

“Too real.” “Don’t like that.” Said Barnaby A and B. 

Tim made an attempt at a scary face, and to Linda’s surprise, the twins jumped. Tim laughed and Jane joined him. Linda went over to the boy and ruffled his hair.

“Wow, that even gave _me_ the chills, Skinnybones!”

She felt Tim tense up under her touch, and he flinched away. 

“ _Nanny_ , not in front of my friends…”

Taken aback by his tone of voice, Linda stepped away. “Haha, sorry, kiddo.”

If he were any other kid, that attitude would NOT fly with her…

The Halloween party commenced and snacks were had, games were played, and music flowed throughout the house. Linda stood awkwardly in the kitchen next to two men who she’d been introduced to as the Walters, one of Tim’s other temporary foster families. The other twin boys were their sons; Owen and Oliver, who were currently decorating cookies at the table with the Barnabys and the Bobbseys.

“Pretty strange that Lowry has _three_ sets of twins in the second grade, huh?” Linda said, attempting some small talk.

“They don’t go to Lowry, actually.” said Joe Walter. “We all kinda met through…well, Tim!”

“Tim?”

“After learning what Orphan Services really put that boy through, we stormed right over there and demanded change.” John Walter added. “Stacey, ourselves, the Wilsons, all of us. Kids in the system deserve better.”

“They do.” Linda agreed. 

“If you’d like, you could come to our next meeting!” said Joe. “We’re writing up a proposal, and would love your input.”

_She’d been giving OS her “input” her entire life…_

“Thanks. I’ll think about it.”

Another awkward few minutes passed, standing here at this party that was more for the kids than anyone else, like some kind of wallflower at a school dance. Eventually Linda felt her phone buzz and was surprised to see the call was from...Maxwell?

“Excuse me.” Linda said, and then left the noisy house through the front door. She leaned on the porch and answered the phone.

“Max? Why’re you calling at this hour? The museum’s closed…”

“I have some exciting news!” The archivist exclaimed. “You remember when Tim and I came across his mother’s journals?”

“I’d like to forget some of that stuff we read…”

“Oh, same here.” Maxwell continued. “But after decipering some more of the handwriting, this one entry caught my eye.”

Shuffling paper was heard on his end of the line before Maxwell spoke again.

 _”Twenty-first of January Two Thousand Eight: The most dreadful of things happened to shmoopsykins and I! A child had the audacity to be born just as-_ aaaand I’m gonna skip that part…” He cleared his throat and continued. _”Tim, he called the ghastly thing. Let’s hope it doesn’t get into my yarn.”_

Suddenly Linda realized exactly what Maxwell had called her about.

“January 21st…”

“Yup! His birthday’s coming up. Thirteen! isn’t that exciting?”

_Thirteen._

“That’s amazing!” Linda said, faking her usual peppy tone. “I’ll have to let him know, and plan something fun.”

“I’m sure you will. Oh! Got some trick-or-treaters over here. Take care!”

Quiet tears streamed down Linda’s face as soon as she hung up. _This was the worst party ever…_

——

Eventually, the kids all gathered in the basement to marathon spooky movies, leaving the grown ups a bit of time for themselves. As Stacey began mixing some cocktails for the parents, she noticed the distant look on Linda’s face as she sat at the kitchen island.

“They certainly grow up fast, don’t they?” Ms. Waddington mused. She took a seat on the barstool next to Linda and handed her a glass.

Linda sighed and took a sip of her drink. “Mhmm…”

“But it’s great to see them happy, y’know? Especially your kids.” Stacey continued. “I...I didn’t spend a whole lot of time with Tim, but I can tell he’s flourishing compared to when I met him. You’re doing a good job, Linda.”

The nanny smiled and sighed through her nose. “I just miss him, y’know? It seems like just yesterday I was their under qualified nanny…”

“I know how you feel. I look at Bobby now and still see that tiny little baby, and that little three-year-old hiding in the clothing racks at Marnie’s.” Stacey smiled a melancholy smile to herself, and sighed. “It’s rough, but smothering them won’t help them grow into the amazing people they’re meant to be, y’know?”

Linda nodded in agreement, and tried to think of it that way. She wasn’t losing Tim anytime soon, he was just being a kid. A normal kid with friends who maybe didn’t want a mother hovering over him ALL the time…

Just then, the basement door opened, and Tim himself stepped out. He looked a bit shaken. A bit scared…

“Heya kiddo! How’s the movie?” Stacey asked. 

“It’s...good!”

“So you’re not coming up here cuz you’re scared?” Linda asked, smirking.

“No! I just...needed to use the bathroom.”

“We have a bathroom downstairs, Tim.” Stacey said, clearly stifling laughter.

With his cover blown, Tim pouted and sat at the kitchen island between Linda and Stacey. He crossed his arms and leaned against his adoptive mother. 

“How do people watch those things for fun?! They’re _horrid_....”

Linda just laughed and put a comforting arm around her son. _That’s her Skinnybones._


	19. Snow Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’ve got another long one, and another pretty heavy one if I say so myself...
> 
> TW for dissociation, and an asthma attack towards the end.
> 
> Enjoy!

A little more than a week after Halloween, the first big snow of the season hit the city, and much to the Willoughbys’ delight, it cancelled school for the day. The kids sat now at the breakfast table, still in their pajamas and chattering away about what each of them planned to do with their day off.

“This is a perfect day for me to practice for my audition!” Jane said, hugging a visibly annoyed Cat in her arms. “Tim, can you be my test audience?”

“I have to study today! My midterm math exam is coming up.”

“Bor- _ing_! Barnabys? How about you?”

The Barnabys looked up from their breakfast as if they were just tuning in, and quickly tried to think of a diversion before Nanny walked in, holding her cellphone to her ear.

“Yeah! Okay, gimme one sec…” She put the phone on video call mode and handed it to the twins. “It’s your friends!”

Both excited and relieved that they could get out of being Jane’s captive audience, A and B talked into the camera.

“Hi Margot!” “Hi Sean!”

“Good morning, comrades!” Margot said, waving on her side of the camera. Just as she did, shuffling and cooing was heard before the phone fell over and the camera was facing the ceiling, a pair of wide blue eyes hovering over it.

“Oh, come on now, Mary Beth!” Sean was heard saying, as the baby was then carried away by their mother and the phone repositioned to face the twins again. “Sorry guys. Do excuse our little terror of a sister…”

“You have a sister?” B queried.

“Unfortunately.” said Margot. “Doorstep baby. You know how it is.”

“Indeed we do...” said A, gesturing towards Ruth, who had materialized on top of his head and was now tugging at his hair.

“Anyway, we were wondering if you might want to go sledding with us today!” Sean said. “Have you ever slid down the big hill at Pleasant View Park?”

“No!” “We haven’t!” The twins looked up at Nanny with a pleading expression. 

“Can we go, mommy?” “Please?”

“Well, I don’t see why not!” said Linda.

“Yay!” The Barnabys chorused.

“Great!” “Brilliant!” said Sean and Margot, respectively. “So we’ll see you soon?”

“See you soon!” B said, before handing the phone back to Nanny. Tim looked at the twins and raised an eyebrow.

“Wait, do you guys even _own_ a-“

Before Tim could finish his thought, Barnaby A and B had already zipped out of the kitchen. Metal clanking, drills, and hammers were heard before the twins emerged back in the room holding a crude looking yet likely very well-engineered toboggan.

“...Sled?” Tim finished.

“ _Now_ can you be my audience, Tim?” Jane asked, having materialized over to his seat and speaking right next to Tim’s face. No getting out of this one, it seems.

_”Fine.”_

“Yay!”

—-

The twins dressed themselves in the snow suits Nanny had gotten them months ago while buying them and their siblings their first new wardrobes. B’s was green and A’s was yellow, much like their sweaters, as were their hats and mittens. When they were done, A was the first to rush out of the bedroom, and B checked the nightstand to see if his twin had remembered his inhaler for once.

He didn’t, so B slipped the device into the pocket of his own snowsuit. Barnaby A really needed to remember it himself one day, because B wouldn’t be around to do so forever…

After Nanny was done putting Ruth in her own little snowsuit, (She and Ms. Bobbsey thought it would be a good idea to bring the babies, much to the older kids’ dismay, likely so they could get some cutsey snow pictures…) she and the Barnabys made their way out the door, with each twin carrying one end of the toboggan and Nanny carrying Ruth in her car seat.

However, as soon as the cold air hit their faces, both twins lost their grips on the sled. Nanny heard it’s audible _thump_ to the ground and turned to her sons.

“Twins, you okay?” 

Both hesitated to answer for a moment, then picked the sled back up with shaky hands.

“We’re fine!” “Perfectly fine.”

“Alright…”

The nice, warm car ride to the park was welcome, even with Ruth’s car seat in between the twins. They found themselves eventually driving up a tree-lined road, and at the end of it stood a park with two big snow-covered hills. The Barnabys could spot the many kids at the park even from the car, looking like ants as they climbed up and slid down the hills on their sleds and innertubes. 

“Now be careful, won’t you? Those hills look really steep.” said Linda.

“Yes mommy.”

“And A, take it easy, alright?”

“ ** _Yes_** mommy…” 

They got their things (and Ruth) out of the car before entering the park itself, where two familiar bespectacled kids as well as a petite raven-haired woman holding a baby in a pink snowsuit waited to greet them.

“Hello Barnabys!” Margot greeted. “Lovely toboggan. Your work, I presume?”

“Mhm.” “Yes!”

Another frigid breeze. The twins shivered, but ignored the strange feeling yet again.

“Nice to see you again, Gemma!” Nanny greeted Ms. Bobbsey.

“Likewise!” Gemma said. She noticed little Mary Beth in her arms extending a hand towards Ruth. “Oh, would you like to say hello?”

Ruth mirrored Mary Beth as she also extended her tiny arms out to the other baby. They laughed and babbled as Linda and Gemma brought them closer to each other.

“Are we makin’ a new friend today?” Nanny said.

“Blech! There’s too much baby here. Let’s be on our way!” Sean said, leading the way as he pulled his and Margot’s sled onto the snow. A and B followed behind them while the mothers and babies took a seat at an empty brushed off bench.

The snow was much deeper than the twins expected, and they faltered behind as they trudged through the ten inches of fresh powder. Sean and Margot took notice of this and waited. The four friends also took their time climbing the shorter hill, as A was already a bit winded. In the meantime they made conversation as they trudged through the snow. The Barnabys still felt a lingering...offness, of some sort, but the presence of their friends helped them ignore it.

“So you’re really going back to England over Thanksgiving break?” B asked.

“Yes! We may as well, since we don’t exactly celebrate.” Margot said. “We’re going for Christmas as well!”

“Sometimes I think Mum only likes to bring us back so much so we don’t lose our accents.” Sean added, jokingly. “It’s a part of our twin-ish charm, y’know? That extra thing grownups fawn over you for, in addition to being twins.”

“For us, I think it’s the red hair.” Barnaby A said. 

“You both do have lovely hair!” said Margot. Next to her, B rolled his eyes.

“Oh, _pshaw_.I could personally do without the soul jokes and getting called names like-“

_“HEY, STOPLIGHTS!”_

“...Like _that_ , for example.”

The four friends turned to face the source of the insult even though they knew it all too well. Brandon came running towards them with a few of his usual goons from school following behind, as well as a vaguely familiar girl who looked visibly less enthused than the boys.

“You have _got_ to be kidding.” Sean said.

“What are you doing here, Brandon?” Margot followed.

“Um, this is a _public_ park, Crumpets. I’m just here to sled like the rest of ya!”

“Well, don’t let us stop you…” said B.

“Oh, I wont.” Brandon said, a smug smile forming across his face. “I just had something to tell you.”

The four twins raised their eyebrows at Brandon as he stood in front of them, not saying a word. Until…

_“Watch your back.”_

And that’s when each twin felt their coat hoods being lifted over their heads, and then felt the freezing snow in said hoods on their bare necks. Brandon and his goons laughed even as the girl pulled him away from the group. 

“Aw, lay off, Katie!”

“You lay off.” The girl apparently named Katie scolded. She turned to the group with a look of embarrassment and sympathy, mouthing what looked like “Sorry” on her way off.

“Ugh! Why did that _heathen_ have to show up here too?!” Margot yelled. “Why I ought to have shoved snow right down his-“

“Barnabys?” 

Margot’s rant was interrupted by the sudden query from her brother, who was looking concerningly at A and B. She noticed why, as they both appeared to be just...frozen, staring off into space like they’d seen a ghost.

“A? B? _Comrades?_ ” Margot said, waving a hand in front of them. B blinked, and A followed as Sean and Margot brushed the snow from their hoods.

“Are you alright?” Margot asked.

“I...yes! We’re fine!” B said. “Totally fine.” A followed.

“Are you sure?”

_”Positive.”_

“Well, alright then.” Sean said. “Shall we continue on our trek?”

“Okay!” The Barnabys chorused, doing their best not to look or sound as physically sick as they were both feeling at the moment.

That’d just ruin the fun, wouldn’t it?

—

The Barnabys’ toboggan worked like a charm. It was fast, aerodynamic, pretty much everything a kid would want in a sled. The friends slid down the hill about six times, and by the seventh, Sean and A were ready for a break.

“Mum brought snacks! What’s say we go and recharge, ay friend?” 

“Right behind you!” A said.

“B and I are gonna have one more go, then we’ll join you!” Margot said. 

“Alright!”

As B and Margot climbed the smaller hill yet again, Sean and A made their way back towards their moms, with A dragging his and B’s toboggan behind him. Before they made it, however, Brandon and his sled came to a screeching halt in front of them, spraying snow in their faces like a car in the mud.

“Tired of the wussy hill, nerds?” 

“Sod off, Brandon…” Sean said as he and A continued on their way. Annoyingly enough, he followed.

“I have a proposition.” He said. “Race me down the _cool kid_ hill, and I won’t pick on you guys the rest of the year!”

Barnaby A stopped walking, the idea of a Brandon-free school year for himself, his brother, and friends enough to tempt him to the challenge. Out of the two Barnabys, A was the more prideful, the more competitive.

“You’re on.”

“What? A?!” Sean exclaimed as he turned to see his friend and his archenemy running up the bigger hill at top speed. 

_“BARNABY A, WAIT!” ___

__Meanwhile, B and Margot were gearing up for their last slide down the small hill._ _

__“Ready?” She asked._ _

___Not really._ B thought._ _

__“Yes!”_ _

__They slid down a pre-packed trail like they’d done six times before, but this time an unknown object decided to obstruct the path, sending the Bobbsey’s little plastic sled flipping over halfway down. Margot landed on her back while B had wound up face-planted in the snow._ _

__“B! B are you alright?” Margot quickly regained her bearings and rushed over to her friend. He didn’t seem hurt, but she noticed that same expression on his face from when Brandon’s goons put snow down their coats._ _

__“B…?”_ _

___He’d just come all this way to save their parents. He and his twin and Tim and Jane risked their LIVES only to be cruely shoved aside to freeze to death on this alp. This horrible, freezing alp..._ _ _

__“I wanna go home…” B finally spoke, words shaky and lip trembling._ _

__“What?”_ _

__“ _I wanna go home!_ ” He repeated, the desperation in his voice enough to scare Margot a bit, but also enough for her to gently soothe._ _

__“Okay...it’s okay, B. Let’s just get back to our mums, alright?”_ _

__B nodded, wiping his eyes and sniffling before Margot helped him up. However, she then saw a familiar speck of yellow running his way up the large hill in the distance._ _

__“Oh, _no_...”_ _

__

__Barnaby A ignored the burning in his throat as he followed Brandon up the hill. He was several feet ahead, but A was determined to catch up despite his breath becoming shorter and shorter. The snow itself didn’t help either, nor did the frigid air. He reached down into the collar of his coat to get to the turtleneck of his sweater, hoping in vain that it might alleviate the tightness._ _

___Sweater. He and B lost a sweater in the snow once…_ _ _

__“A! Slow down!” He heard Sean shout about six feet behind him._ _

__A continued on his way, however, and was about four feet away from the very top before...he collapsed._ _

__“Aw, c’mon, Stoplight! Gonna chicken out now???” Brandon taunted from the top. He was confused however, when A didn’t respond._ _

__“...Stoplight?”_ _

__Sean finally made it next to his friend and knelt down. A looked up to face him, and Sean knew immediately what was wrong as his friend spoke weakly._ _

___“H...help…”_ _ _

__Sean panicked as he remembered that B always carried his rescue inhaler, and noticed that A had let go of the toboggan when he fell and sent it sliding down the hill. At the bottom of the hill he also spotted B, Margot, and their moms._ _

__In an act of impulse, Sean grabbed the strap of Brandon’s sled that was within his reach, and managed to get A and himself on the plastic slab and speeding down the hill in record time._ _

__“Hey, that’s mine!” He heard Brandon behind him._ _

__“Don’t care. You’re the worst!”_ _

__Upon skidding to a halt, Sean and A were instantly surrounded by their siblings and mothers. B quickly gave A the rescue inhaler and after a few tense moments, A regained his normal breathing pattern before being picked up by Nanny._ _

__“You scared me half to _death_ , mushroom! What on Earth were you thinking?!”_ _

__“Sorry, mommy…”_ _

__Ruth crawled her way onto A’s head again, but for once, he didn’t seem to mind._ _

__“I think we could all use some hot cocoa.”  
Said Gemma._ _

__—_ _

__For the rest of the day, the twins and Nanny hung out at the Bobbsey’s house, taking it easy after the day’s ordeal. Sean and A sat on the couch under a blanket, reading a volume of _Captain Underpants_ and laughing between peaceful silence. Barnaby B leaned on a chair near the window, looking out at the flurries that had started again and dreading the moment they’d have to go out in it to go home._ _

__Soon enough, Margot joined him on said chair, carrying two mugs of hot chocolate. B took one and savored the warmth on his hands._ _

__“Mum said you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want, so I won’t ask.” Margot said. “I’m so sorry we made you go out in it, though…”_ _

__“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Said B. “We just didn’t want to ruin the fun!”_ _

__“You’d never ruin our fun.” Margot assured. “You’re our _friends_ , Barnaby. And we care about you.”_ _

__Margot smiled warmly, and B mirrored her as they both sipped their cocoa and continued looking out the window in comfortable silence._ _

__“Sometimes I think the snow’s nicer from here anyway, y’know?” Margot mused. “You can appreciate it while still knowing you’re safe and warm.”_ _

__B couldn’t say he _appreciated_ snow at all right now, but he did agree about being safe and warm. He and A both were, and that’s what mattered._ _

__“Yeah.”_ _


	20. The Audition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for a little good old fashioned fluff after that last chapter...enjoy!

“Okay, now just pretend we’re the audience, got it?”

“Um...yeah. Alright, here we go…”

For the third time that afternoon, Jane hesitated to start her song. Frankly, performing to an “audience” that consisted of Tim, a crude drawing of auditorium seating Tim had drawn on a poster board, and Kristy on his laptop’s webcam didn’t make this any less strange...

_”Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens…”_

She’d done this so, SO many times before even at the risk of being punished by their horrible parents, so why were ears and eyeballs - _willing_ ears and eyeballs so scary now?

 _”B-bright copper kettles and warm woolen m-_ gah! Sorry…”

“You’re good, you’re good, Jane.” She heard Kristy say over the webcam.

“Good?!” Jane snapped. “How’s it good that I can’t even make it through the whole song?!” 

“That’s why we’re practicing! Just...take five, alright?”

Jane sighed and tossed herself down onto her bed next to Tim. She was NEVER going to be Ariel at this rate. Even in practice meetings for the drama club, Ms. Dreschner described her as quiet. She didn’t want to be, but something, some unidentified _something_ was getting in her way…

“Jane, nearly _everyone_ gets nervous performing or speaking in front of people.” Tim said. “I thought I was gonna die when I read my book report in English class, but I still got an A!”

“That’s an English class, Tim.” Jane deadpanned. “And I bet you were only nervous because you-know-who was-“

“ _My point is_ ,” Tim interrupted. “You’re not alone here. Oh! Vanessa told me a trick once; imagine the audience in their underwear!”

“Ew! There’s gonna be _teachers_ there!”

“Please don’t make me think of Ms. Drescner in her underwear…” Kristy said.

“ _Oh_ -kay! New plan then…” Tim got up and paced around, pondering what else could possibly help his sister with her stage fright.

He didn’t quite get it. Jane was one of the bravest, boldest people he knew. Heck, it was her willingness to face what she thought was an actual BEAST that got them to where they are now. Tim and the Barnabys could have never done that, not with their parents around.

But she’d also been holding back because of said parents, and even Tim himself. Nobody listened then, but now, Tim was all ears.

“Kristy, mind if my sister and I have a word?” 

“Sure, go ahead!”

Tim led a confused Jane out of her room and into the hallway. Before she could say anything, he spoke.

“Do you remember when we first sent our parents away, and you just played every instrument you could as LOUDLY as you could?”

Jane smiled fondly at the memory. “Yeah, I do.” Then her expression fell again. “And then you told me to stop making such a racket because your head hurt.”

“ **Not today**.”

“...What?”

“You heard me!” Tim’s voice was oddly stern as he put his hands on Jane’s shoulders. “Now that our parents are gone forever, you can sing as _loud_ as you _want_.”

“I...yeah, I guess I can…” Jane said. “But...ugh! That audience...it’ll be so big…”

“Who faced a mysterious beast in a box?”

Jane looked briefly puzzled at the question before realizing what he was talking about.

“I did?”

“Who led us all the way through the big, dangerous city to the end of the rainbow?”

“ _I_ did.”

“Who chopped off twenty inches at her first haircut even though she was terrified?”

“I did!”

_“Who ruthlessly stood up for her family against mean kids at school?!”_

“I DID!”

“Because you’re. _Jane. Willoughby_.” Tim said. “And you can do anything.”

Fired up now, Jane bounced from foot to foot and smiled warmly at her brother. 

“Thanks, Tim. Can we try again?”

“Yes! But...not here…”

Jane was puzzled again, but rolled with it. She felt ready to try anything at this point.

Tim took Jane and the laptop with Kristy on video call into an empty part of the factory, claiming it had better acoustics. It certainly did as Jane shouted “Hello!” and heard an echo throughout.

“So I was thinking we’d try here, and you could start by closing your eyes.” Tim said. “Maybe if you can’t see us, you’ll perform better, and you can try open eyes when you’re ready.”

“Okay.” Jane said, excited about the promising sound quality of this room. She closed her eyes, and started the song.

_”Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,”_

“ _Brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things…”_

“Yes!” Tim shouted. She was doing better already, and as the song continued, the confidence in her voice only grew.

_”When the dog bites,”_

“Yes!”

_”When the bee stings,”_

“Yeah Jane!”

“ _When I’m feeling sad..._

“ **Bring it home!** ”

Tim couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He’d heard Jane sing, of course he had, but here she was singing with no inhibitions. No one to silence her, and she was _amazing_.

“ _I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don’t feel so bad!_ ”

Jane held that last note for as long as she could, and as she finished and caught her breath, she heard clapping...but it sounded like way more than just two pairs of hands.

“ _Brava!_ Jane, you were incredible!” Nanny said.

“Randy Dandy! You’re a star in the making!” Melanoff followed.

Jane opened her eyes, and indeed, her adoptive parents as well as the Barnabys and Ruth were there along with Tim. He smiled nervously as he spoke. 

“You just performed to your first audience! Surprise…?”

Jane could only stand there as she realized what Tim had planned, and almost wanted to be upset, or embarrassed, or retreat back into her room…

But seeing the delighted faces of her family, supportive and loving, Jane simply smiled, and took a bow.

—

After lots more practice at home, the audition itself went off without a hitch. Jane simply repeated Tim’s words from that day in her mind up until she sang her first note, after that, the rest was easier than she thought it would be. She now found it more nerve-racking to wait for the roles to be confirmed at this next meeting. Jane thought she did well, all things considered, but it was a cautious optimism she felt on the way to the auditorium that afternoon.

Already, kids were gathered around the paper taped to the wall, including Kristy, who seemed elated.

“Jane! _Jane, c’mere_!” She called over to her friend.

Jane did so, butterflies building in her stomach with every step. Her eyes drifted to one part of the paper and she too was just as happy as Kristy.

**URSULA: KRISTEN GUERRA**

“Aaaah, congrats Kristy!” Jane embraced her friend as they bounced happily up and down. Kristy motioned over to the rest of the list.

“Thanks, but...you might wanna see the rest.”

Jane did so...and it felt like all the breath had been knocked out of her when she read the words.

**ARIEL: JANE WILLOUGHBY**

“Ohmygosh...ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh YES!!!” Jane embraced Kristy yet again as their words dissolved into high-pitched, excited squeals. 

They did it. They really did it.

Another kid made her way over to the list as Jane and Kristy celebrated, a frustrated huff leaving her as she read.

“ _Flounder?_ Are you serious?” The girl crossed her arms as Jane and Kristy approached her.

“Hey, it’s a major role at least!” Kristy said.

“I guess...I’d much rather be a daughter of Triton though…” The girl looked at Jane and smiled.

“Jane, right? Wow, you’re like, _perfect_ for Ariel.”

“Haha, thank you…” Jane responded bashfully. “Looks like we’ll be rehearsing together a lot, huh? What’s your name again?”

“Katie. Katie Perfect!”

“Bit self-congratulatory, huh?” Kristy joked.

“I didn’t pick it, believe me…”

The three girls mingled for the remainder of the meeting, making plans to practice together and put on the best performances they could when the show finally opened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I work in retail and the Kelly Clarkson cover of My Favorite Things plays in our holiday rotation pretty often, so I thought that song and specifically that rendition would work well for Jane! https://youtu.be/Q0R2F-GcyeI


	21. TtLatH Holiday Special Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!! Enjoy this behemoth of a chapter...I originally just had a mellow, Christmas-day-present-opening-family-fluff one planned but this idea wouldn’t leave me alone (and we’ll still get that more mellow Christmas chapter next!)
> 
> Hope you enjoy, and happy holidays!

On a mid-December Saturday, setup was currently underway for Lowry Academy’s annual Winter Fair. Food stands, games, vendors, and other activities were set up in the school and around it’s massive campus, staffed by various faculty, local craftspeople, and even students with their parents.

Among those student/parent volunteer booths were Commander Melanoff and Tim, running of course, a stand making and selling holiday sweets. The appearance of Commander Melanoff in the flesh was certainly a surprise to the students and faculty, and Tim felt the full force of their stares as they unloaded boxes of candy. 

The ridiculous elf hat the commander had him wear wasn’t helping matters either...

“Y’know, this is making me a little nostalgic!” Melanoff thought out loud. “I started out my business doing this kinda thing, selling at a little stand. Now look at me!”

“Wow, really?” Tim asked.

“Sure did! We’ve all gotta start somewhere.”

Tim smiled to himself as he arranged some Lickety Twists on a display, trying to simply enjoy bonding with his adoptive father and not think of what his peers might say. Maybe it’s _cool_ to have a candy magnate for a dad?

Any composure Tim may have wanted to feel went out the window as another stand began setting up across from them; _Belmonte’s Italian Bakery_ , staffed by Leo, his father Dino, and his mother who was also apparently named Ruth. Or was it Sweetie? One of those...

Leo and Tim locked eyes with each other before their guardians could, and both exchanged a look that said _“Oh crap, this is really gonna happen huh?”_ Before Leo gave Tim a shy, friendly wave. 

Tim smiled back before remembering the embarrassing hat he had on, and frantically took it off. Leo must’ve sensed his intent even from several feet away, as he gestured down to his own festive ugly sweater, which then started to light up. This made Tim laugh just enough to get Melanoff’s attention…which he then directed to the Belmontes’ stand.

“YOU!”

 _”YOU!”_ Sweetie Ruth shouted right back. She stomped out from behind the stand as Melanoff did the same, both of them meeting in the middle of the row.

“How _dare_ you sling your slimy sweets in my vicinity!”

“I should say the same to you!” Sweetie Ruth countered. “ _Our_ hot cocoa and gingerbread cookies have been a staple of the Winter Fair since my dear Leo was five! To think they’d let a sellout like you in to steal our livelihood. Shameful…”

“I thought this was a school fundraiser?” Leo said to his dad.

“It is…” Dino sighed.

“You’re just jealous cuz you KNOW I’m gonna wipe the floor with you.” 

“Is that a challenge?”

“I guess it is!”

The two confectioners made their way back to their respective booths. Tim spotted Sweetie Ruth barking orders at her son and husband before Melanoff knelt to his level, both hands on Tim’s shoulders.

“You ready to show that witch who makes the best tasty treats in town?!”

Tim unenthusiastically nodded and gave a half smile before Melanoff set back to work. He turned back to the Belmontes’ stand and exchanged one more look of sympathy with Leo, silently agreeing on one thing; This was going to be a _long_ day...

——

The Winter Fair was now in full swing, and while Tim and Melanoff ran their stand, Linda, the Barnabys, and baby Ruth walked around and enjoyed the festivities. 

The nanny had been worried at first, given all the songs and imagery involving _snow_ there tended to be at most Christmas events, but the twins seemed to be enjoying themselves even despite Sean and Margot’s absence (the Bobbseys had already left for England the day before). Linda even found _herself_ feeling a little bit of festive cheer, even though the holidays had never been the greatest time for her in the past. It probably had to do with now having a real family, and five kids to spoil and dote on who _greatly_ deserved it. Speaking of which…

“Hey, Barnabys?”

“Yes mommy?” The twins chorused.

“I’m on a top secret mission, and I’m gonna need you guys’ help.” Linda started. “What do you think Tim and Jane would like for Christmas?”

A and B thought back to previous conversations and overheard comments from their siblings, before B finally chimed in.

“Jane wants a guitar. She wants to take lessons like Kristy does.”

“Tim would definitely like some better art supplies.” Barnaby A added. “He’s tired of having to draw orange people.”

“Noted.” Linda said. She could certainly get her hands on those things. “Now what about you guys? Workin’ on those lists for Santa?”

“Santa’s not real.”

The unexpected blunt statement caught Linda completely off guard.

“Come again?”

“Not real.” Barnaby B repeated. 

“It’s logistically impossible to visit every household in one night, and don’t get me started on the timezones.” A followed.

Linda could only stare and blink at the two youngest Willoughbys. The same six-and-a-half year olds who believed their sister was a witch because of some silly makeup and still checked their closet for monsters knew _Santa_ of all things was fake?

Then, she remembered where these kids came from, and realized their previous holidays must’ve had to be less than magical…

“ _Ooh_ -kay...not real. Got it.” Linda said. “But still let me know what you want, ‘kay?”

With that subject dropped, Linda and the kids proceeded to explore the rest of the fair, stopping occasionally at vendor tables where the twins even managed to find small trinkets for their siblings as gifts from them. They had to carefully hide said trinkets in Ruth’s stroller, however, when they came across Jane among a group of student carolers.

“ _Hark! How the bells, sweet silver bells…”_

They watched the performance which Jane, as always, carried with her excellent voice. When the song finished, they clapped as Jane made her way over to her adoptive mom and siblings, twirling around in her Santa dress she wore, matched with the other caroler girls.

“Hi Nanny! Hey twins, enjoying the fair?”

“Mhm.” “Yes!”

“How ‘bout you rest that voice of yours and get some cocoa with us, tiny girlfriend?” Nanny asked.

“Sure! Just gimme a sec.” Jane went back to grab her things, and came back to join her family. When she and the twins were far enough behind Nanny, Jane pulled out a bag.

“Look at what I bought Nanny for Christmas!” 

She held open the contents of the gift bag which the Barnabys audibly _“Oooooh”_ ’d at.

“That’s perfect.” “She’ll love that!”

“I sure hope so.” said Jane.

As the family made their way out of the school building towards the refreshment stands, they passed by a heavily decorated cafeteria entrance with a sign outside of it that made the Barnabys stop in their tracks.

“Oh! I got some candy canes too, you want some, Barnabys?” asked Jane. She turned around only to see her brothers had vanished.

“Barnabys?”

Jane and Nanny looked around frantically before Jane’s eyes fell on the sign by the cafeteria they’d passed…

**MEET SANTA THIS WAY!**

“Uh oh…”

——

Meanwhile, Tim was already exhausted from the endless bagging and boxing and wrapping of treats. A candy stand run by Commander Melanoff himself had proven to be a _huge_ hit, and Tim was barely keeping up. His spirits lifted a bit however when a certain duo approached the booth. 

“ _Season’s greason’s_ my dude!” Vanessa said, striking a faux-dramatic pose in her antler headband and reindeer facepaint. Bobby shook his head at his sister, which only made the bell on his hat let off a small jingle.

“Haha, hey guys...” Tim said, smiling at Vanessa’s antics.

“When are you off the clock? We gotta hang out before the fair’s over!” Vanessa turned around to see the Belmonte’s booth and then spoke to Tim with a hand by her face. 

“And more importantly, when’s _he_ off the clock?”

Tim pouted and crossed his arms. “I told you I’m over it!”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Bobby said. Tim kept his composure but his blush gave him away.

“I would like to get away for a bit, though...” Tim looked over to Melanoff, who was happily selling some candy to a mother and her awestruck child, and as she walked away, snuck a smug grin at Sweetie Ruth who glared daggers at Mel all the way from her own booth.

“Leave it to us.” Vanessa pointed confidently at herself as she said this. “Bobby, go see if you can get Tim’s prince charming away from the dragon…”

“ _Vanessa!_ Ugh, Bobby, wait!” Tim shouted, but Bobby was already halfway gone. He looked back to Vanessa. “You don’t understand, Ruth is _ruthless_!”

“Relax, bud. We got this.” Vanessa said as she made her way over to Melanoff’s side of the stand. He noticed her and smiled warmly.

“Hello Vanessa!”

“Hi Mister Melanoff!” She said, putting on her best, most innocent face. “Bobby and I were wondering if Tim could come hang out with us.”

“Hmm, we’re still a bit busy here…”

“The fair usually winds down around this time. Can’t he have a break? _Pleeease???_ ” Another faux-innocent, pleading smile and Melanoff finally relented.

“Ah, _alright_! Go ahead Tim, and I’ll hold down the fort.”

“Thank you sir!” Vanessa said. She took Tim’s hand and led him out of the booth. 

“Told ya.”

The two walked out of sight from the booths, and waited for Bobby. Sure enough, he arrived, and he wasn’t alone. 

“Did we really just do that? I can’t believe I did that…” Leo said. He appeared to be visibly shaking.

“Relax, man. You’re hanging with your peers, not commiting a crime.” said Bobby.

“How did you…?” Tim started.

“Told her I was his lab partner, and we needed to study for the big test next week.”

“I’ve never lied to my mom in my whole _life_ …holy crap...” Leo continued. His nerves seemed to decrease when he looked up and saw Tim.

“Oh...hey.”

“Hey.” Tim said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He hoped the blush across his face could be blamed on the cold...

“C’mon! I heard they got Mr. Pearson for the dunk tank!” Vanessa said. 

The four of them headed off towards the games, and Tim made the impulsive move of taking Leo’s hand. He turned to him in surprise at this.

“Ah! S-sorry I…”

But Leo only smiled, and kept holding it as they walked. At that moment, Tim wasn’t too concerned about blushing anymore.

—-

“Oh! And a drill…”

“A blowtorch!”

“And some jet fuel…”

“Don’t forget-“

“Okay, okay! I think I can take it from here, kiddos…” Jim the custodian- er, Santa Claus told the two Barnabys, who’d been sitting on his lap listing off their wish list for the better part of five minutes, much to the annoyance of every other parent and kid in line. 

Jane and Nanny, meanwhile, were peering above the line trying to get the twins’ attention, and trying to convince the other parents they weren’t there to cut them.

“One more question.” Barnaby A started. “...Why did you never come to house Willoughby?”

The not-custodian didn’t expect such a specific question, and nervously glanced over at the elf helper pointing to his watch.

“I-...er…”

“Our brother and sister waited and waited...why?” B added. Another pause from the older man, until...

“They...why, I guess they’d been naughty, of course!”

The twins frowned, then glared. Jim knew then that that was the _wrong_ answer...

**“Liar.” “Phony.”**

“Whatever are you talking about, kiddos?”

And that’s when B tugged down the fake beard, abruptly causing an uproar and horrifying the waiting children. This didn’t seem to phase the twins however, as they were both abruptly dragged away from the chair and back to Jane and Linda, with the nanny scooping the both of them up in her arms and mouthing apologies to the staff and parents.

“What did I tell you guys about wandering off?”

“Sorry, mommy…”

The family proceeded out of the school building away from the commotion, and Jane noticed the twins looked quite forlorn.

“What’s wrong, twins?”

“We were hoping, maybe…” Barnaby B started. “That if he’d been real, he could’ve made it up to you and Tim somehow…”

That right there broke Jane’s heart in half. She remembered her and Tim waiting desperately every Christmas Eve, hoping maybe THIS year Santa would come to House Willoughby...but eventually they’d put the pieces together and decided to spare the Barnabys their own disappointment. She’d long since made peace with it, but the twins were still young, and it was so unfair that they couldn’t believe. That none of them could have believed…

“That’s very nice of you guys,” Jane started. “But...I really don’t think we need Santa to have a good Christmas. We’ve got a real family now, that should be enough!”

The twins smiled warmly, as Jane then knelt to their level.

“Also, like...did you SEE the looks on those kids’ faces? Hilarious…”

The three of them giggled as the family approached Melanoff’s booth, which was notably lacking Tim. 

“Linda! Have you seen Tim around anywhere? He should’ve been back by now…”

Linda and the kids shrugged as Melanoff glared again at the Belmonte’s booth, where Sweetie Ruth was currently selling 2 bakers dozens of gingerbread cookies. He noticed that her son was missing, and came to a startling theory...

 _“It’s that Belmonte kid!_ Oh, _nuts and nougat_...why did I let him out of my sight?!”

Linda rolled her eyes at Mel and Sweetie’s petty, petty rivalry. Even the kids let off a groan at the mention of it.

“Mel, c’mon now-“

“Sweetie- er, _Ruth_! Where’d you let that son of yours off to?!”

“He’s _studying_ , you walking mattress! With that kid...Bobby something…oh yeah! Waddington.”

Melanoff remembered Vanessa getting Tim and put 2 and 2 together. Sweetie must’ve done the same in her head as they both stared at each other in their shared realization. 

**“LEO!”**

**“TIMOTHY!”**

The foursome of Tim, Leo, Bobby, and Vanessa meanwhile, were sitting together at an outdoor table, looking over their various prizes and purchases from the fair as they laughed and talked about this thing or that. Vanessa looked up at Leo and Tim, sitting particularly close to one another, and nudged Bobby.

“Hey, I just got a text from mom, she wants to meet us at the east wing.”

“I didn’t see you get any-“

“ _The east wing,_ Bobbert…” Vanessa said, dragging him up with her and winking at Tim as they left. Tim was left alone with Leo and suddenly felt his heart race.

“I was so nervous to go with you guys…” Leo started. “That must sound so dumb, but like...I’ve never been this-...this _bad_ before! I’m nothing like you…”

_Did he just imply what Tim thought he implied?_

“Like me?”

“Yeah, you! You just straight up ESCAPED Orphan Services! I could never have done that…”

“You wouldn’t want to.”

Tim’s sudden serious tone caught Leo off guard.

“It was _scary_ to escape. And it was scary and cold and MEAN n that place!” Tim sounded a bit shaken now, and Leo suddenly felt bad about  
striking what he realized was a sensitive nerve.

“I wouldn’t wish being like me on anyone...”

“I’m sorry.” Leo said. “I guess...sometimes I wish I could escape my _mom_. She wouldn’t have let me go around the fair without chaperoning me!”

“But at least she loves you.” Tim said. “Maybe yeah, she’s a little protective, but she cares a lot. The same can’t be said for some other kids, I know that…”

Leo nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Another couple moments passed before Tim reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out a Lickety Twist he’d swiped from the stand, handing it to Leo.

“Speaking of being ‘bad’, though...Merry Christmas.”

Leo took the candy and stared at it like some kind of rare, priceless gem, then beamed back up at the eldest Willoughby.

“Thank you!”

But before either could say anything else, two large shadows casted over them.

“ _Young man, what do you think you’re doing?!_ ”

“Mama! I-“

“Please listen to your mother, son…” Dino said, meekly.

“Tim, we’re going home.” said Melanoff.

 _Again with this?!_ Tim thought.

“But _Dad_ -!”

“No buts, Tim! We’re-“

Melanoff’s expression shifted, and voice softened at his next words.

“Wait… _’Dad’_?”

Tim himself must’ve also realized and looked surprised at himself. Meanwhile, the candy maker reflected on the day’s events. This was supposed to be a _fun_ day, and he’d let his and Sweetie’s petty rivalry get in the way of that. He’d been letting his own fear of Tim getting hurt by the same people who’d hurt _him_ keep his son from simply making a friend. (Or possibly more, from what Melanoff could clearly tell…)

Besides, it’s Christmas.

“Hey, Ruth?” Melanoff started. “What are we really doing here, huh? It’s the holidays, for sugar’s sake! Let’s say we bury the hatchet...just for today, whaddya say?” He held out a hand to her in truce.

Sweetie Ruth looked up at him, surprised, as did the kids and Dino. They all looked to Ruth to see what she’d do next.

“Well, I suppose…”

She slowly reached her hand towards Melanoff...only to then wrap it protectively around her son.

 **”I suppose you’re full of malarkey.** Leo, let’s go.”

As the Belmontes walked away, Leo turned around to face Tim one more time, smiled, and held out the Lickety Twist which he then quickly shoved back into his coat pocket. Tim smiled back, and waved.

“Listen, Tim...I’m…I’m _sorry_ about today. I just worry because-“

Melanoff was interrupted as he felt a pair of small, skinny arms attempt to wrap around him in a hug.”

“Because you care. I know.” said Tim. 

Melanoff returned his son’s embrace as the rest of the family caught up to them, Linda smiling in approval at Mel and Tim’s reconciliation.

“Tim! Tim, you’ll never guess what the twins did…” Jane started.

Tim listened to the funny story as he and his family finally enjoyed the rest of their day, and finally, _finally_ got that hot cocoa they were wanting.


	22. TtLatH Holiday Special Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m baaaaaack!! :D welcome to the very VERY belated second part of the holiday special. My apologies :P
> 
> Good news: more new chapters on the way! Bad news: they’re all building to a conclusion :( but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there! In the meantime, Enjoy c:

“Ahhh I’m so excited!!!” Jane exclaimed, observing the very long box with her name on it.

“Go ahead and open it, girlfriend!” Nanny said.

Tim smiled up at the scene from where he was swatching his new set of alcohol markers. For the first Christmas morning in their entire lives, the Willoughby children woke up the way all children who celebrate should wake up on said morning. This year he wasn’t waking up in the coal bin after another year’s failed attempt to get their parents’ Christmas Eve dinner scraps. He wasn’t reading about proper Willoughby Christmases in said coal bin while lamenting the lack of his own, settling for reading Dickens with his siblings for the remainder of the day in an attempt to ignore their hunger pains. 

This year was different. This year his whole family and their new parents were gathered in the living room by their tree, and his sister was violently unwrapping and then beaming in awe at her brand new-

“GUITAR?!” Jane squealed, staring at the case in disbelief, then up at Nanny. “You got me a guitar?!”

“And lessons!” Nanny said. “You’re starting with Kristy’s teacher in a couple weeks!”

Jane unzipped the case and ran her hand along the wooden acoustic instrument, then plucked a few strings before running into Nanny’s arms.

“THANKYOUTHANKYOU THANK YOU!!!”

“Go on, there’s more in your stocking!”

Jane did as she was told and quickly reached into her stocking, retrieving a book of hair braiding tutorials and a dark blue scrunchie covered in gold stars, the latter of which she recognized from one of the craft tables at the Winter Fair.

“Nanny, this is so cute!”

“Actually, that’s from someone else…”

Perplexed by the statement, Jane scanned the room with her eyes until they landed on the shyly smiling face that answered her question.

“Wait, _B_?”

Tim, A, and Melanoff looked confusingly at B as well. All were surprised that a Barnaby of all people would give such a simple and pretty gift.

“I thought you’d like it since you like that show about stars.” B said, eyes downcast like he was embarrassed. “And I thought it’d...compliment your uniform…?”

Jane smiled reassuringly at her brother. “That’s so thoughtful, Barnaby! You have good taste.”

The middle Willoughby then looked down again at the hair braiding book and furrowed her brows. Nanny noticed this. 

“Somethin’ wrong, girlie?”

“No! Not at all…” Jane said, then averted her eyes again. “I was just thinking, I don’t think I’ll get to try all these braids since...I was thinking about donating my hair? Y’know, after the play…”

Everyone’s eyes widened at this and Tim audibly gasped, abandoning his marker chart and rushing over to and embracing his sister.

“Jane, you don’t have to do this! Nanny, Dad, if we’re in any financial strife, as the oldest boy I WILL find work if needed-“

“Woah, _woah,_ Tim!” Nanny said. “Tim, Jane’s not _selling_ her hair! She wants to _donate_ it to make wigs for kids with cancer.” 

“My friend Katie did it once!” Jane added.

At this realization, Tim let go of Jane. “ _Ohhhh._ Wow, that’d be such a bold move for you!”

“That’s our girl! A bold little cinnamon fireball she is.” said Melanoff. 

“She is indeed.” Nanny added, patting Jane on the shoulder.

After two more presents, (a charm bracelet with music note charms from Melanoff and a _Star School_ Emma doll from Tim, which Jane appreciated despite being a little too old) the Barnabys started opening their own. First were two brand new backpacks with their initials on them, then a set of drafting supplies for their blueprints. The last gift, however, Nanny deliberately saved for last.

“ _All_ of us pitched in a little bit for these.” Nanny said. “Jane thought you’d like something personalized, Tim thought you’d rather have new tools, so...oh, just open them!”

With curiosity heightened as to what could be in the two suspiciously small boxes, the twins tore into the wrapping and found two identical green velvet boxes. Upon opening them, the shine reflected off the Barnabys’ faces as they looked in awe at the objects within; two silver steel multi-tools, each engraved with _Barnaby A_ and _Barnaby B_ respectively.

 _“They’re…”_ _“Beautiful!”_

The twins each observed the tools contained in the devices; a wrench, can opener, file, screwdriver, among other things. (NO knife, upon Linda’s insistence. They could have a knife put in when they’re older.) Both twins instantly ran over to embrace Nanny.

“THANK YOU MOMMY!!”

“Thank your brother and sister too!”

After a round of thank yous and hugs all around for the siblings’ gifts, it was finally the parents’ turn. Among these gifts were various craft projects and Winter Fair finds, the exception being a mustache grooming set Tim had gotten for Melanoff. 

“Why thank you son! Maybe you’ll get to steal it from me one day.” Melanoff said with a wink. 

Much like with the Barnabys’ gifts, Jane saved hers to Nanny for last. Even her brothers seemed to agree that this was the standout, much to Linda’s curiosity. 

“Open it open it!” Jane said excitedly.

Linda fished the small velvet box out of the gift bag, and opened it...

“Oh…”

A necklace with a silver chain sat in the box, one of those thick chains you’d put beads on. There were six beads on it in total.

“There’s one for each of us!” Jane said. “One bead for me, for Tim, the Barnabys, Ruth, Dad, and…”

Five of the beads were plain, but one was heart-shaped and engraved with only one word;

_Mom._

Linda supposed the word had yet to settle even after all these months, or she was simply touched by the gift as she should be from the way tears were welling up in her eyes. Something else, however, something _deeper_ was pouring out of her upon actually reading the word. Seeing it set in silver. 

“Kids, I…. _thank you_.” The tears came harder and faster now and Melanoff took notice.

“Linds? You alright?”

“E-excuse me…” Linda quickly got up, careful to set the necklace aside, and sprinted to her bedroom. Jane was about to follow, but Tim quickly put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

“She needs time. Like me.”

—-

“Linds?” Melanoff queried, gently knocking at the door. 

It opened slowly and a flushed, bloodshot-eyed Linda let him enter.

“Agh, what do I tell the kids, Mel?!” Linda said. “I’m sorry, I have no idea what came over me back there…”

“It’s okay! Linda, don’t worry about the kids. You think kids like them wouldn’t understand missing your mama?”

Linda sniffled, and wiped her face with a nearby tissue. “I know. I just wasn’t...I hope they don’t think I’m a downer on Christmas.”

“No, _no_ …” Mel soothed. “I guarantee there’s not a thing you could do wrong in their eyes. I could stand to learn a little…”

“Mel!”

“It’s true!” Melanoff and Linda shared a laugh at that, and he then produced the same velvet box containing the necklace. “They got you this for a reason.”

Hesitantly, Linda put the necklace on, Melanoff helping her with the clasp. She felt the cool metal on her chest and smiled up at the candy man.

“I feel a bit better. Thanks Mel.”

Just as the two approached the doorway, the four Willoughbys (and Ruth sitting on Tim’s head) were caught spying from just outside the bedroom. The parents didn’t seem phased, however, even as the kids looked like they’d been caught red-handed.

“So...do you like it?” Jane asked hesitantly.

“Jane, I _love_ it.” Linda said, smiling warmly and touching the necklace again. Her expression turned, however, when she then heard giggles from the kids.

“Um…?”

“Linds, look up.” Melanoff said. Linda did so to find...mistletoe.

Seeing that the kids were already anticipating it, Linda flashed a mischievous smile at Melanoff and pulled him in for a kiss.

She had all the time in the world to think of her past, but Linda’s present was much, much more important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t worry, if you’re upset I didn’t show Tim opening his presents, remember, he has a birthday coming up c:


End file.
